Olivia on the hills

By KevinTheB
June 3 2010

Following up from last time’s piece on the Wasps Backroom Staff, we’re casting a Drunken Wasps Eye on someone else who stays largely in the background. If you go along to the A team games at Henley, you’ll have met Olivia Cox, who always happily takes your money and gives you a programme on your way in. This off-season, Olivia is giving herself a special challenge.

When asked about her plans, here’s what we discovered.

“My name is Olivia Cox and I have worked in the Commercial Department at London Wasps for about 8 years. I joined the club after a year’s travelling in West Africa and Australia and following a degree in sociology at Cardiff University. Currently, I am the Sales and Admin Executive and work closely with Wasps corporate environment but I have also enjoyed working in the Marketing Department and as the assistant to the Events and Operations Manager.

I have been fortunate enough to experience some amazing times with Wasps over the years, and I am hoping that the challenge ahead will give me the opportunity to give something back to those less fortunate than myself. Combining my love of travelling with my passion for Wasps, I am taking a short holiday which coincides with the off season to embark on a different type of adventure and challenge.

I have been planning and saving for a trip to Tanzania over the last 6 months and part of this experience is to challenge myself, physically and mentally, to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa  which is 5895m above sea level and down to -10º C degrees at the summit.

I want to achieve something for my own personal satisfaction, and therefore I am paying for all costs and expenses for this trip, but at the same time would like to use this experience to raise money for a charity which could, with your help, benefit it as much as I hope to, and I have chosen Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital.

I chose Great Ormond Street Hospital because I wanted to raise money for a children’s charity in the UK.  Everyone hopes that they will never need to depend on the incredible services of Great Ormond Street.  The suffering of children needing treatment, for them and their families, must be unimaginable.

These days there are many charity requests, either through friends, family or business connections, and so I fully appreciate the number of charity requests that you must all receive.  However, because I feel so passionate about this Charity, which also fits the profile Drunken Wasps always give generously to, I’d like to ask you all to please take the time to take a look at my JustGiving page (http://www.justgiving.com/OliviaCoxisClimbingKilimanjaro) and perhaps consider donating to this very worthy cause to help these children and their families.

If you have any further questions, regarding this trip or the chosen charity, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line at Olivia.cox@wasps.co.uk and thank you for taking the time to read another charity request.

Olivia"

Olivia stands about five foot nothing, but she's taking on one incredible challenge. It would be good to see her get to her goal with our help along the way.