Tuesday 20 September 2011

On The Ropes

Superman makes his descent from the tower
Sunday 25th: The Archbishop of Canterbury is preaching at the cathedral this morning. You have to be seated by 10.30 should you wish to go along.


Nearly one hundred fundraisers abseiled down Derby Cathedral last weekend in support of the local Mountain Rescue Team and the cathedral itself, raising around £14,500 in pledges of sponsorship.

The rescue team had set up an abseiling platform at the top of the 212ft tower of the cathedral, the second highest in the country and invited members of the general public to raise sponsorship to support both the team and the Derby Cathedral Charity, which supports projects connected with the cathedral.

Despite some very windy conditions on the Saturday, most abseilers commented how much they had enjoyed the experience, even though many had been very nervous before putting themselves in the hands of the experienced rescue team.

Among the adventurous participants was a partially sighted man, who bravely climbed the steep narrow stairway to the top before stepping off the edge of the tower, even though the night before, he had asked his wife exactly what abseiling was as he was unsure what he’d agreed to do. Another woman was celebrating her 40th birthday by taking part, having completed the challenge previously when the team had held the event four years earlier. The Sunday also saw the characters of Superman (see above) and Scooby-Doo make the descent in full costume, much to the delight of several children in the audience gathered below. One abseiler from Rolls Royce in Derby managed to raise close to £1700 in pledges by taking part.
Diana Cunningham from Smith's Clocks about to set off

This text and images have come courtesy of the Derby Mountain Rescue Team's website. Follow this link for more details of last weekend's fantastic fund-raising abseil. (Had we thought about it we could have got one or two of them to nip around the back and sort out our droopy camera for us! Nick M.)
The crowd look on.

Sunday 18 September 2011

Abseil down today


Today (Sunday 18th) the Derby Mountain Rescue team have organised an abseil down the tower between 12.30 and 4 pm so if you ever wanted to try this out, today's your chance. Proceeds are split between DMR team and the cathedral.

Peregrine prey remains found below the tower this morning included a snipe's beak and two feathers from a golden plover - the birds are now getting back to their winter diet! The falcon was sitting right by the pud cam on the waterspout. No sign of the male bird.
Nick Brown (DWT)