2026 – The Year of the Sixes

In 2026 our Founders, Philip and Bev Holmes will both be 66 and they’ve decided to mark that year as ‘The Year of the Sixes’. This will involve running SIX European marathons in a bid to raise £60,000 towards six of Pipal Tree’s projects. This will be the first marathon they have run together since taking on London in 2015 (pictured) which happened to fall on the day after the great earthquake happened in Nepal.

The six projects will be:

  • The Urban Nature Project in Kathmandu (Lily’s Leaves)
  • The Dhanushadham Bird Park in south Nepal (Mithila Wildlife Trust)
  • The refuge for rape survivors in Janakpur, south Nepal (Our Sansar)
  • A six-month long basic tailoring course for 16 girls in Sarlahi District (Lily’s Leaves)
  • The salaries of six teachers at six Community Learning Centres (CLCs) for children from Dalit (‘untouchable’) castes in south Nepal (Mithila Wildlife Trust), the salaries equating to the teachers’ own tuition costs as senior students
  • The operating costs of Bhatighadi Community School, including the salary of support teacher Jina Tamang Sherpa (Mithila Wildlife Trust)

The marathons will be:

  • Seville – 15th February
  • Barcelona – 15th March
  • Milan – 12th April
  • London – 26th April
  • Lisbon – October date tbc
  • Florence – November date tbc

We’d love you to join our team but your challenge needn’t involve running a marathon. It can be anything involving the figure six. One of our supporters has pledged to shed 6kg of weight! Please drop Philip a line to discuss your idea.

Or if you’re not able to commit to a challenge, you can still join the effort through a small donation using this link.

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