THREE weeks ago, the Haberdashers Joint Schools expedition to India arrived back at Monmouth.

The group, comprising of forty students and six staff from HMSG and Monmouth School, had been on a four week trip which included a community phase at Upper Valley School in the village of Burua, north-western India as well as a two week trekking phase in the Indian Himalayas which included a further visit to a school and a buddhist monastery.

The community project included painting, plastering and a lot of sanding in order to revamp the school and its appearance. Local builders were also employed to cement the school’s sanitation facility and, later, to build the rest of the third floor of the school.

All of this was thanks to the funds raised by students and staff, notably Caroline Pascoe, Rob Picken, Owen Williams, Gerry Stentiford and Kate Potts, who completed the Three Peaks Challenge (also Nyree Clayton and Brian Pascoe who drove the walkers to each of the UK’s highest mountains) and Izzy Mount and Georgina Feltham-White who did a sponsored skydive. All of this amounted to approximately £2500.

Of further benefit for the group was the fact that this project was being completed at 2000 metres and so their bodies would be able to acclimatise to the change in height, before the trekking phase.

After a week of community work in the school, the trek began and, since completing an eight-hour jeep ride along some hair-raising roads, the group split in half and group B made it to their first camp at about 4600 metres high (15000 feet). The trek was by no means easy but it certainly brought with it laughter and teamwork in some of the world’s most inhospitable conditions with snow and glaciers being a common sight.

Overall, a successful and seemingly unforgettable experience which is said to have brought out the best in all of the expedition members.