Students from Uxbridge College pictured with Louise Alford from Cancer Research UK (in the blue sweatshirt), Mary Keating (right of the cheque), Vincent Keating (in black leather jacket right of College sign) and (next to Vincent) Alison White, Course Team Leader for Public Services.Young people who climbed the height of Snowdon and Ben Nevis, and ran and canoed the equivalent
Students from Uxbridge College pictured with Louise Alford from Cancer Research UK (in the blue sweatshirt), Mary Keating (right of the cheque), Vincent Keating (in black leather jacket right of College sign) and (next to Vincent) Alison White, Course Team Leader for Public Services.Young people who climbed the height of Snowdon and Ben Nevis, and ran and canoed the equivalent of a marathon,
have raised more than £2,000 in memory of a fellow student from Uxbridge College.
The group of Public Services students raised a total of £2,201.30 for Cancer Research UK to honour the life of David Keating, who tragically died of cancer at the age of just 17.
David had been studying for a Public Services qualification at Uxbridge College, which prepares people to join services including the British Forces, Police, Paramedics and Fire Brigade, when he became ill in 2007.
David’s parents Vincent and Mary, of Sudbury Hill, joined the students as they handed the cheque over to Louise Ashford, the charity’s Area Volunteer Manager.
The sponsored activities, which Mrs Keating also took part in, were held at Hillingdon Outdoor Activities Centre in Harefield in October 2010. Between them the group climbed the height of the two mountains, ran the equivalent distance of a marathon, and canoed the same distance as a metric marathon.
Mrs Keating said: “David always showed perseverance during his life and when things get tough, like they did for the students during the sponsored activities, it helps to remember what he would have done. David would have worked hard and pushed on until he finished - he just didn’t get the chance. It’s lovely that the staff and students at Uxbridge College remember David at times like these – it helps us, and I think it helps his brothers too, to know he is not forgotten.”
Alison White, Course Team Leader for Public Services at Uxbridge College, said: “David was one of a kind and as a student, and an individual, he set the bar extremely high for those who followed. Those of us who knew him will never forget him, and this event was just a small contribution we could make to remembering all he achieved in his short but rich life.”
Mrs Ashford said: “Thank you very much to Uxbridge College – without people like the staff and students of Uxbridge College, we would not be able to do the work that we do and we are immensely grateful to everyone involved.”
The most money raised by a single individual was collected by Mark Reddy, age 18.