Genus is on a quest.

This South Wales children’s home is determined to raise as much money for us as possible and the team is not shy of an epic challenge. 

“We’ve done the Welsh3Peaks, the National 3 Peaks, the 55-mile Taff Trail in 24 hours, the Invincible Tough Run, walked 100,000 steps in a day, cycled 100 km in a day and walked up and down Pen-y-Fan 10 times in 24 hours,” Gareth Hemmings, Co-Owner and Director of Genus Care, tells us. 

Recently, Genus took on another huge feat called ‘Pen-y-Dreadful’, which saw the team walk up and down Pen-y-Fan 5 times in December. Yikes! 

Circumstances meant we had to do our annual challenge late in the year. Logistically, Pen-y-Fan is easy as it’s close to us all, so Pen-y-Dreadful was born,” explains Gareth.  

“Up and down five times in the winter is rough but we wanted to be as safe as possible, so wanted the daylight, too. Plus, the name is a play on the TV show, Penny Dreadful. 

“It was OK really! We won the weather jackpot – it was a dry, clear, sunny day. Up and down multiple times is harder than many people realise but it’s mind over matter. 

“About eight or nine of us did the full five but it was a brilliant collective effort, we had over 75% of our staff and most of our children and young people up there having a go. 

“The toughest times are when you’re at the bottom and have to turn around and go again! But the atmosphere amongst everyone in our little base camp was brilliant and we all kept each other going. The support, banter and love on the day was awesome. 

“I know everyone who was up there that day got a lot of satisfaction out of it. I went up again the next day with my nine-year-old daughter, Lottie, who couldn’t do the day because of school. 

“We chose Tŷ Hafan because we share common threads. We both work with children, we’re both based in South Wales and the heart of our organisations are our staff. When we visited the hospice, it just cemented our connection to Tŷ Hafan.” 

Genus, you’re amazing! Thank you for dedicating so much of your time to helping us.