Gavin Morgan

4 October, 2007

SHETLANDER Stanley Manson and his 22 year old daughter Suzanne returned home yesterday (Wednesday) after raising £13,200 for charity by trekking along parts of the Great Wall of China.

The journey was undertaken to raise funds for the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen and coincided with this year's 100th anniversary celebrations of the nautical institution.

Twenty six people joined Stanley's group to travel to Asia to take on the challenge and raise funds for various charities. Five people raised around £30,000 for the Fisherman's Mission.

Stanley and Suzanne were the only Shetlanders in the group, but two men from Peterhead raised another £13,200 and a lady from England managed to accumulate about £4,000 for the mission.

They spent five days walking on or alongside the wall, four nine hour days and one half day.

Mr Manson said: "It all went very well. It was a bit harder than I was thinking, but we got there. We did not do the whole wall, but different sections.

"The first day was just like mountaineering because some parts of the wall are corroded, so we had to climb up a kilometre high mountainside alongside it. That took us all morning to get up and the afternoon to get down.

"We were walking a different terrain than I had thought we would be, with some days just on the wall and others alongside it."

The 50 year old father of two has worked with Lerwick fish agent LHD for more than 30 years and was Lerwick Up Helly Aa Guizer Jarl in 2004.

Mr Manson concluded: "Overall it was excellent. A Chinese family looked after us, shifted our tents and made the meals for coming back at night.

"It was all very organised, but pretty primitive, it made you realise how lucky you are with all your home comforts."

The two travelers set off for China on 22 September and arrived back in Shetland on the boat yesterday (Wednesday) morning, after spending a couple of days in London.