World of James Herriot museum banner taken to top of the world as manager’s daughter completes Mount Everest expedition
A banner advertising the World of James Herriot museum has been taken to the top of the world as part of an expedition to Mount Everest Base Camp.
The daughter of the museum’s manager completed the trek to Everest Base Camp with a special banner titled ‘World of James Herriot, High in the Himalayas’.
Ellie Pawlett, daughter of Kate Pawlett, director and manager of the World of James Herriot, in Thirsk, worked at the museum as a teenager and set herself a target of flying the banner on the world’s highest mountain.
The 27-year-old, a nurse at Northumbria Healthcare, completed the trek with a group of friends as a personal challenge.
She first became interested in doing such a trip after enjoying walking and climbing Roseberry Topping in the North York Moors National Park in Herriot Country and Helvellyn in the Lake District National Park.
The idea of the banner came up when discussing with her mother the news that World of James Herriot is in the top 10 per cent of tourism attractions in the world on Tripadvisor.
“Mum and I were discussing the trip when she told me about the Tripadvisor award and I said: ‘Why don’t I take the World of James Herriot to the top of the world?’” Ms Pawlett said.
“I’ve always enjoyed hiking, and this was the ultimate challenge for me before the next chapter in my life.
“Displaying the World of James Herriot banner at such an iconic location was a great thing to do for my mum and the team at World of James Herriot.”
Alan Hinkes OBE is a friend of the attraction and the first Briton to climb the world’s 8,000m mountains all in the Himalaya and Karakoram ranges of Nepal, Tibet and Pakistan.
Mr Hinkes congratulated Ms Pawlett on her feat and they shared their respective experiences and a common understanding of how difficult and challenging such an adventure is to complete.
Mr Hinkes signed his book ‘8,000 Metres’ for her and presented it to her at a special get-together at the World of James Herriot.
“It’s great to meet Ellie after such an achievement and I’m really impressed with the way she prepared for it and showed such determination to manage and complete the trek to Everest Base Camp, which is a risky endeavour, very arduous, can involve days and days of trekking, acute mountain sickness, other hazards and can be potentially fatal. You have to know what you are doing,” Mr Hinkes said.
“Ellie has told me that she met some lovely people in Nepal which is a lovely place, nearly as nice as North Yorkshire’s Herriot Country.”