A Coleg Llandrillo learning support assistant who cares for students with learning difficulties, has started a major drive to raise thousands of pounds, for a 10-day trek through the wilds of Vietnam.

Gwen Chadwick, along with friends Nicola Hau and Myra Illingworth, have signed up for Trek Vietnam for Marie Curie Cancer Care 2019, which will take place at the end of next October. But they need to raise over £10,000 before their Asian adventure.

Nicola Hau, who is Gwen’s neighbour, has been a volunteer for Marie Curie for five years. She and Gwen decided to take on the trek.

The trio will trek through the beautiful valleys and paddy fields of northern Vietnam to the breath-taking mountains of the Hòa Bình Province. As the Marie Curie campaign brief says:

The minimum fundraising amount of £3,500 per person will be used by the charity to offer care and support through terminal illness.

Gwen, Nicola and Myra raised £350 at a coffee morning event at the college’s Orme View Restaurant at the Rhos-on-Sea campus, which also included a raffle and cake sale. They have also been collecting outside various supermarkets with charity tins.

Forthcoming fundraising events include a Christmas Raffle, already 1,000 tickets have been sold so far, a musical evening at the Bluebell Pub, Conwy, tea parties at Penrhyn Hall and Llandudno Pier, a BBQ Night at the community club in Llandudno Junction and a family fun day next summer.

Gwen said: “We are all looking forward to our Vietnam trek; it will take us out of our comfort zone and will be a great adventure as well. We will be starting our fitness training in the New Year.”

Nicola added: “I find volunteering very rewarding, especially when we receive tremendous feedback from families who have accessed the services.”

Every Vietnam trekker’s fundraising will make a huge difference: £180 pays for someone with a terminal illness to attend the day therapy unit at the hospice; £400 pays for someone to stay in a Marie Curie Hospice for 24 hours, so they can receive the hands on care they need in their final days, and £1,250 pays for a portable oxygen system to relieve distressing symptoms, so a person doesn’t have to be confined to bed.