HEADS IN THE SAND

HEADS IN THE SAND

HEADS IN THE SAND

Our Headmaster will spend an unusual Easter in the desert with the Master of Wellington College, Julian Thomas.

The two have decided to compete in the 2017 Marathon des Sables in Morocco and are running to raise money for a new building at St Michael's School, a girls' primary school in rural Uganda.

St. Michael’s Primary School, Busembatia, Uganda is a government aided school about 88 miles from Kampala and situated in a remote and rural area. There are about 600 girls and 12 boys, both boarding and day scholars. Most come from desperately poor backgrounds and some are orphans who are provided with food and shelter by St. Michael’s.

Warminster School started the academic year listening to the Headmaster talking about the importance of setting challenges both inside and outside of the classroom and asking the question, ‘Why not you?’

With this in mind, he also wanted to set himself a new challenge and along with his good friend, Julian Thomas, Master of Wellington College, they came up with the idea of running the Marathon des Sables, considered the hardest foot race in the world. The Marathon des Sable is a multi-day ‘ultra-marathon’ or ‘ultra’ run in six days over a course of between 150 and 156 (254km) miles taking place this April.

Finding time to train is hard, especially when you do not particularly like running, but both Headmasters have found time during the holidays to fit in training around their family and running boarding schools.

Both Mark and Julian have experienced extreme and bold challenges before. In 1997 and 2004 Mark rowed across the Atlantic (pair and then solo) and in 2015 Julian walked to the South Pole. A running race across the Sahara seemed the logical next step!

To support ‘Heads in the Sand’  please visit their Virgin Giving page for more details.

Fiona Beach-MacGeagh, Head of Admissions at Warminster School is a founding member of the charity 'Friends of St. Michael's Girls Primary School, Busembatia, Uganda'. She set up the charity whilst volunteering at the school during her gap year 15 years ago.

The charity is committed to not only looking after 50 orphans, but also feeding the children a bowl of porridge each day, to enable them to have the energy to continue learning and empowering the girls by giving them skills for when they leave school, rather than only the option of marriage at the age of 15.

If you would like more information about the charity, please contact Fiona Beach-MacGeagh.

www.fsmu.co.uk