October 25 - The Purple Angel reaching the sky in Snowdon, Wales

The Ostrich Purple Angel reaching new heights

Dementia awareness is important for many of us who are ready to push our limits to help raise awareness. A group of friends from a care home in Wrexham have given wings to the Ostrich Purple Angel posters and stickers by bringing them to the summit of Mount Snowdon in Wales. The whole Ostrich team would like to congratulate Anita Moran, Hayley Parry, Rebecca Griffiths, Angharad Davies, Anne Davies, Sarah Jenkins and Rosalina Leite for their efforts. Hats off ladies! For the whole story read Anita Moran’s account below:

Climbing Mount Snowdon, the story by Anita Moran

Seven of us from a care home in Wrexham, North Wales, decided to climb Mount Snowdon to raise money to make reminiscence boxes. Our goal was also to award the Ostrich Purple Angel window sticker to the highest café in England and Wales.

A rocky path to the summit

We started off on 29^th September and arrived in Llanberris at 9.30am, feeling very excited about the day ahead. During the first part of our climb we were close to giving up when we saw the massive hill looming ahead of us. As it soon started to even out a bit our hopes went up and we kept going. After some time the path, which had been pretty good so far, turned into loose rocks and big steps. Although our hearts sank a little, we managed to cheer each other up and to keep climbing for our good cause. Soon we could see the halfway house up ahead of us, which gave us something to aim for.

The Halfway Café

We arrived at the Halfway Café only to learn that the café on the summit was closed and the trains to go up there had been cancelled due to bad weather. The lady in the café was wonderful; she read the Understanding Dementia poster while we waited and we awarded her the Ostrich Purple Angel sticker to place on her window.

Making it to the summit

Since the trains had been cancelled we decided to make it to the summit on foot, which was another adventure. The wind was very strong, so strong that you thought it might blow you off the mountain, and we were all struggling in places as the wind was against us, and it was gail force! As the road grew steeper and steeper the views became increasingly amazing. As we arrived nearer to the summit we saw a rescue helicopter looming over us, which made me truly realise just how dangerous a place this was. The final climb to the summit was truly scary but we all made it and got to take pictures, with the best views I had ever seen.

The Purple Angel made it to the summit of Mount Snowdon!

We've decided to go up Ben Nevis next year and are already excited at that prospect. Let us know if you want to join the party!