Jack Sutcliffe

It isn’t enough that Jack Sutcliffe once cycled from Lands End to John o' Groats or climbed various mountains in the Alps but he also decided to swim the English Channel with his family and then climb Mount Everest. Jack successfully scaled Everest in 2009 and raised money for the AV Foundation to help fund two classrooms in the Himalayas. The new classrooms mean the school can educate more children locally because they won’t have to be sent away to an expensive boarding school.

For the 22-mile English Channel swim, motivational speaker Sutcliffe was aiming to raise £10,000 for charity – in the end he and his family raised £18,625, a staggering 186% of the target. As part of the swim, Jack’s 12-year-old son William had to swim for an hour in the pitch dark. As Jack put it: “The Sutcliffes are made of sturdy stuff!”

The charity that benefited from the family’s efforts is Cherry Trees, which provides respite care for children with severe learning and physical disabilities in Surrey. Relatives of the children also get to take a break from caring for their loved ones 24-7.