About Us
We are a small group of firefighters and emergency service workers with a big dream: to take 343 firefighters to the USA for the 25th anniversary of 9/11, to climb the height of the World Trade Center, all 110 floors, in solidarity with our American colleagues. It began the way most of these things do, with a few of us wanting to do something that actually mattered. It has grown into something we are all proud to be part of.
Why we climb
On 11 September 2001, 343 firefighters from the New York Fire Department went to work and never came home. They climbed up into the towers while everyone else was trying to get out. We have not forgotten them, and we never will. Each of the twin towers stood 110 floors high. That is the number we climb. One floor for every storey they went up, in full kit, doing their job while the building came down around them. It is a small thing next to what they did, but it is our way of saying their names still matter.
The Terry Farrell Memorial Climb
This September our team travels to Atlanta to climb 110 floors in memory of the 343, and in memory of Terry Farrell, one of the firefighters lost that day. Atlanta in September is hot and heavy going, with humidity none of us are used to, a long way from home. That is rather the point. If it were easy it would not be worth doing. You can follow the team every step of the way on our social channels, right up to the moment they reach the top.
Where we go from here
That trip is our signature event, but it is only part of what we are building. Since its inception, the Memorial Stair Climb has grown into far more than a single climb. Our aim is to establish a lasting UK remembrance event for 9/11, somewhere first responders can come together in a way the job rarely allows. Run by first responders, for first responders, and built around the thing that too often gets left last: our own wellbeing. Somewhere to remember, to raise a bit for good causes, and to look out for one another.
More than firefighters
This was never only about firefighters. Police officers, paramedics, ambulance crews, RNLI volunteers and coastguard all do the same job in their own way, heading towards trouble when the rest of us are heading away from it. Our challenges are open to the whole blue-light family, and we are prouder than ever of the mix of people now climbing alongside us, both here in the UK and abroad.
The charities we support
Everything we do is for charity, supporting firefighters and emergency service workers across the UK and the US. We are proud to be raising money for three charities who do vital, and often unseen, work caring for our emergency services and their families.
- The Terry Farrell Foundation
- Blue Light Card Foundation
- The Firefighters Charity
Every donation is split equally between the three. All of it goes towards the work these charities do for the people who protect us all.
Get involved
You do not have to climb a single stair to be part of this. A donation, however big or small, goes straight to three charities that will put it to good use. If you have ever been helped by the emergency services, or you just want to stand behind the people who would come for you on your worst day, this is a good place to do it.
Donate today and help support the work they do for those who protect us all.