Francis Holland School, Sloane Square’s Head Completes Annapurna Challenge

By School House

1 year ago


Francis Holland School, Sloane Square’s Headmistress, Mrs Lucy Elphinstone has completed the Annapurna Challenge, having raised around £400,000 for a special bursary at her school.

 Headmistress, Lucy Elphinstone
Headmistress, Lucy Elphinstone

The Annapurna Challenge in Nepal involves a trek of over 180km, over the highest mountain pass in the world at more than 5,400m.

Mrs Elphinstone said: ‘The altitude and the extreme cold made this the hardest challenge I’ve ever undertaken.  What kept me going was knowing that the money raised for the Elphinstone Scholarship would be life-changing for so many children in years to come.’

Mountains in Nepal
Mountains in Nepal

The trek took nearly three weeks, through rhododendron forests and past temples and villages to the peaks of the Himalayas, descending to the city of Pokhara in time for the spectacular Nepali New Year celebrations.

Mrs Elphinstone was raising funds for the ‘Elphinstone Scholarship’, which will fund a transformational 100 per cent bursary for a girl every year in perpetuity, as part of FHS Sloane Square’s Promise Campaign, launched in Summer 2022. This ambitious new programme aims to build a £15 million endowment fund in order to double the school’s bursary provision by 2032, enabling 50 talented Foundation Scholars at any one time to benefit from an FHS education. The Promise Campaign highlights the fact that there are many young girls in the local area who show extraordinary promise but who are denied opportunity, as their financial circumstances do not allow them access to a transformational education such as that provided by FHS.

Mrs Lucy Elphinstone, Francis Holland School, trekking in the mountains
Mrs Lucy Elphinstone trekking in the mountains

To add a donation please click here and to find out more about the transformational bursary programme, please click here.

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