Margate women conquer Mount Snowdon – dressed in their underwear – to raise mental health and body confidence awareness

ADVENTURERS: Abi, Cassie, Maria and Lorna at the top of Mount Snowdon

Four Margate women have conquered their mission to raise awareness of mental health and body confidence issues – by climbing Mount Snowdon dressed in just their underwear.

Abi Gentle-Spens, Maria Cairns, Lorna Turner and Cassie Davey originally booked to take the trip up Snowdon – the highest mountain in Wales at an elevation of 1,085 metres above sea level – as a way of relieving the pressures of being cooped up in lockdown.

But, over a drink once pubs were allowed to reopen outside service, the four decided they wanted to take the opportunity to make an impact and raise awareness of two issues close to their hearts.

Mum-of-two Abi said: “ We all have various reasons we hold mental health close to our hearts and wanted to do this. We talked about climbing it in our underwear and were a bit unsure because of body confidence issues but then decided we could do it.

“We don’t all know each other that well but are linked by mental health in one way or another, so we thought we would do it for charity.”

The group completed their climb on Saturday (May 29), taking four and a half hours to reach the peak.

Abi said: “As we were in our underwear we had been hoping for some sun. It was cloudy but we were actually hot the whole time and wondered how people were managing with all their clothes on!”

Barber and Café G staff member Cassie, Lighthouse school workers Lorna and Maria and Abi, who is a education welfare officer, climbed in aid of mental health charity Rethink, asking people to donate through the organisation’s website.

And they say the support they received from the public was brilliant.

Abi said: “We had messages of support from people saying we have inspired them to think outside the box for charity fundraising. Others said we have helped them feel more body confident and able to be comfortable in their own skins. There were even mums that showed our posts to their daughters to promote body confidence and women owning their own bodies!”

The four say they still have a taste for fundraising adventure and are now planning to climb Ben Nevis and to do a charity bungee jump.

Rethink supports tens of thousands of people every year through a diverse range of mental health services and life-changing support groups. These are vital in helping people get through crises, live independently and recognise that they don’t have to face mental illness alone.

To make a donation and find out more click here

14 Comments

  1. To be honest I’m not sure how 4 fit looking women with fantastic bodies raises “body confidence issues”, but good for them! They certainly improved my mental health today (particularly Lorna).

    • I’m sure exactly what they want/why they did it was so that you could letch at them, Peter.. well done on missing the point and being a creep.

      • No-ones letching (well probably loads of people, but not me), though if heterosexual males (or indeed gay women) find the sight of seeing attractive semi-naked women cheering, is that such a bad thing?

        I know at least two of these ladies have gone through some real tragedies (search their names on this very site), and this has probably improved their mental health no end.

      • Oh,lighten up. Maybe you are secretly jealous of these ladies?

        Well done them, they look fantastic and have done so much for a worthy cause.

      • Well said. They’ve done it for their own body confidence not for your validation on whether they look good.

        • But have they inspired you to do the same Fiona? I suspect not, but great if they have.

          • Perhaps I should add that I too used to strip off to improve my body confidence and mental health (and I sometimes got paid for it via 15 years of modelling for art classes). Occasionally I’d receive compliments about my body – from both males and females – and I accepted these compliments for what they were rather than complain about them.

  2. Fantastic girls well done. You have the potential to raise millions of pounds for good causes and become very well known and the wealth that can bring you by simply being yourselves but keep the format of the four of you.
    I will be delighted to sponsor your next adventure.

  3. At first I thought they must be mental. Pity the £200 million being wasted by this Tory government on building a stupid “Royal Yacht” couldn’t be used to improve mental health facilities instead!

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