40 Faces of Brendoncare – Debbie Boothroyd

Debbie can proudly boast that she has been on top of the world. In 2022, she successfully completed an epic 11 day trek to Everest Base Camp in the Himalayas to raise money for Brendoncare.

This is one of the many personal challenges on which Debbie has embarked on top of her role as Executive Assistant & Office Manager, which she has been doing for nearly six years.

Her job role, she explains, involves wearing many hats. “No two days are the same. I could be supporting our Chief Executive and Board of Trustees one day, then managing events, project work and the odd bit of IT on another!”

Debbie’s proudest moments have been seeing her organisation skills coming together at successful events including visits to care homes by Brendoncare’s Patron, HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh, and at colleagues’ conferences.

What does Debbie enjoy most about working at Brendoncare? “It’s working with such an amazingly talented bunch of people who all have the same goal of empowering older people in later life. It makes my job so rewarding. In return, I hope I make the busy, demanding days of my colleagues that little bit easier by offering them support and help.”

Outside of work, Debbie’s Everest trek was the pinnacle of the many challenges she has completed. Even more remarkable is that only five of her original of group of 12 completed the whole trek, emphasising just how gruelling and testing it was.

After the trek, she said: “There were many highs and lows (pun intended!), and I was pushed to my limit physically, mentally, and emotionally. I’ve learnt lots about myself; that I’m capable of more than I thought and able to find a little bit of extra grit when I need it most.”

Zip wire:

Her Himalayan trek raised more than £1500 for Brendoncare. Before that, her fund-raising events included a zip wire flight, a 35k walk and a stair-climbing challenge – but her pursuits go back further than that.

Debbie recalls: “When I was younger, I spent every evening and weekend running. I then gave it up until I ran a half marathon for charity when I was older. I have since got back into running – for the physical and mental benefits. I have now run a couple more half marathons and a 50k ultra marathon.”

Walk:

Not content with all these achievements, she has her sights set on another big adventure for 2025. “My challenge this year is to walk the 100 mile South Downs Way from Winchester to Eastbourne, which I plan to do over five days in May.”