Climbing Kilimanjaro earns Bethnal Green’s Hotel in the Park �5,000

Members of the Camden Society hold a reception tonight to thank Kal Taheem for climbing 19,000 feet up a mountain.

His trek up Africa’s Kilimanjaro in Tanzania raised �5,000 for the charity’s Hotel in the Park at Bethnal Green, Britain’s first hotel for people with learning disabilities to take a city break.

The cash ‘windfall’ has gone on new decking and lighting in the hotel garden on the banks of the Regent’s Canal next to Victoria Park.

“The physical challenges climbing Kilimanjaro at times were torturous,” Kal recalls. “I did feel light-headed on my return due to high altitude and couldn’t quite believe I’d done it.

“We would not have made it without the two fantastic guides we had.”

Tonight’s reception is in honour of Kal, now a Camden Society trustee, with a performance by the society’s own band, ‘The Unknown’.