Back to News >

A BPE engineer has conquered Britain’s highest mountains with his friends in a bid to raise money and awareness for mental health – and has returned from his quest with more than SIX times the fundraising target.

Barney Thornton, Process Engineer at the chemical and biochemical engineering design specialist, completed the National Three Peaks Challenge with a group of friends, raising an incredible £3,171 for the mental health charity, MIND, smashing his original target of £500 – and the total just keeps on rising.

Barney, along with Jay Devlia, Thomas Esson, Alex Tsui, Kris Lees, Alex Taylor and Alex Edwards climbed the highest mountains in Wales, England, and Scotland – Snowdon (height 3,560ft), Scafell Pike (3,209ft) and Ben Nevis (4,413ft) – and covered the 400 miles of driv-ing in between – all in just over 28 hours.

Barney, who is from Solihull in Birmingham and a recent graduate of Nottingham University, took on an intern role at BPE back in 2017, before coming back in 2018 for a place on the process engineering company’s graduate scheme.

He said:

“We are so proud to have completed the challenge. We gave it absolutely everything!

“There were definitely moments where we all struggled, especially on our last climb, but we got through it! Knowing we were raising money for a wonderful charity spurred us on.”

Taking on this mammoth task for MIND, Barney is a big advocate for the charity’s work.

He continued:

“The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have tested us all, and what has become abundantly clear is the importance of maintaining good mental health.

“The mental health charity, MIND, have been ensuring everyone can access its services when needed, playing a crucial part in the nation’s recovery.

“And as one of the leading campaigners for spreading the awareness of mental health, encouraging people to speak out and seek help, we just had to offer our support.”

Andrew Stevenson, Business Development, Technology and Consultancy Director at BPE said:

“Barney and his friends set themselves a tremendously difficult challenge here and it’s great to hear that they all got to that finish line. What a fabulous achievement. We are very proud to call Barney part of the BPE family.”

To donate to Barney’s campaign, please click here.

Find out more about BPE, here.