Big-hearted Northampton broadband engineer scales new heights to answer charity call
A Northampton broadband engineer is swapping the information superhighway for the hills of Yorkshire – but it’s all for a great cause.
Damian Woolliscroft, who works for Openreach, is taking part in a gruelling 100 kilometre trek in aid of Blind Veterans Charity UK on June 17.
The charity is important to Damian because he served in the Army for seven years.
Damian, who lives in Northampton but works in nearby Coventry, will be joined on the trek by two former Army colleagues, and has the backing of his wife Tricia and sons, James, aged 12 and Rhys, nine, who join him for short training walks.
Damian, aged 43, who joined Openreach nearly three years ago, said: “My day job involves working with the engineers rolling out superfast broadband around the UK - helping to plan the network that they then build to give more communities access to this important technology. I can’t promise my trek will be superfast, but I’m determined to finish it as quickly as I can!
“My colleagues at Openreach and BT have been really supportive – here in the Midlands but also abroad - with donations coming in from as far afield as Singapore!
“My family know it will be a tough challenge for me because I’ll be walking non-stop over 24 hours, but they’re very supportive.
“It’s fairly flat where I live, so I’ve taken myself off to Derbyshire and South Yorkshire as part of my training.”
Openreach is the local network business which is part of BT Group.
Damian’s challenge starts and finishes at Darley Memorial Hall.
During his spell with the Army he served in the Royal Logistics Corp, mainly based in Germany, with tours in Bosnia and Northern Ireland.
Damian is no stranger to supporting good causes – whilst working for an animal welfare charity, he posed naked for their fund-raising calendar.
Anyone wishing to sponsor Damian can do so via his charity website:https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/damianwoolliscroft
More information about the Blind Veterans Charity UK 100k Trek is available by logging onto: - https://www.blindveterans.org.uk/100k
