A young brother and sister duo from Derby have gone above and beyond after scaling the height of some of the world’s tallest landmarks on their stairs at home, and raising more than £530 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity.

Adventuous nine-year-old William Tipping was eager to take on a climbing challenge for the hospital during half-term. However, with climbing walls and tall buildings closed due to lockdown, William needed to think of another way to make it happen. Turning to mum Hannah and dad Simon for ideas, they realised he could achieve his dream at home by climbing the stairs.

With Hannah and Simon’s help, William and his little sister, Georgina (six), planned a mighty world tour challenge. They set their sights high and created a map of eight landmarks to virtually climb, including the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building and the Shanghai Tower, and worked out how many times they would need to climb their stairs to reach the top. Feeling ambitious the pair even added the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai to their list, which stands at 828 metres tall and equating to 319 climbs of the stairs.

 

The duo were inspired to fundraise for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity by their aunt, who works as a nurse at the hospital. Pumped with energy, ambitious William and Georgina began their journey on the first day of half-term, spending time climbing every day throughout the holidays. They were still trying to complete their final landmark as they returned to school, but the determined siblings managed to tick off a few flights each morning before they finally ticked off every landmark on their map.

Their mum, Hannah, said: “Having spent so much time confined to the house during lockdown, William and Georgina have learnt to really appreciate freedom and they began to empathise with children who might not have those freedoms for other reasons, such as being in hospital. They’ve had great fun climbing the stairs and even though they’ve found it very tiring at times, they were inspired to keep going, knowing they’re helping other children – especially as their fundraising total kept creeping up!”

Miranda Williams, Head of Public Fundraising at Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “Our young supporters can be so creative with their fundraising, especially when they can’t get out and about and William and Georgina’s incredible climbing challenge is no exception!

“The money William and Georgina raised will go towards helping us do more for the 90,000 sick kids we treat at our hospital every year.”