Bradford College

£40,000 Raised in Charity Abseil!

Students and staff at Bradford College gathered at the top of the 269 feet high Opal 3 Tower in Leeds, waiting nervously to abseil down the building in a bid to raise money for charity.

Amongst those taking part were Public Services Lecturer, Rob Pennington and Healthy College Manager, Jane Marshall.  When they heard about the plight of 60,000 adults and children dying of water borne disease in South Omo, Ethiopia, they were moved and pledged to make a difference by participating in the charity abseil.

In an unforgettable and nerve racking descent of the 269 feet high tower, Rob and Jane decided to abseil down together. Jane explained:  “We didn’t know what we were doing until we were hanging off the building... all the instruction on how to get down were given to us as we were hanging over the edge.”  Jane laughed and added:  “So that was quite nerve racking!” 

Rob continued:  “We were the first from our group to go down. That’s because we had to photograph the students as they abseiled down.”

Jane has previous abseiling experience .  She was 13 years of age when she abseiled down a waterfall during a school trip!  Rob explained he had abseiled before and said: “But I’ve never done a ‘freefall’. Instead of pushing off coming down the building, we basically had to dangle and just freefall all the way down, so you didn’t actually touch the building.”

When asked what thoughts went through their minds as they descended down the building, Rob and Jane laughed and replied in unison:  “Not much, we were too busy singing the theme tune to mission impossible.”

Rob said: “It was an amazing feeling… really good.  I was charged with adrenaline by the time I’d got to the bottom of the tower.”

Jane remarked: “It was good fun.  It started off as fear and turned into fun.”

Rob is fully committed to raising money for charity.  He has raised thousands of pounds over the years for a number of worthy charities, enlisting Bradford College students along the way.  He has plans in the pipeline to continue with his fundraising activities throughout the year.

One of the students taking part from Bradford College overcame his fear of heights.  He successfully completed the 269 feet descent down the tower. Rob explained:  “The following day the student came to see me.  He thanked me and said it was a life changing experience… something he thought he would never do.”

Jane added: “It’s a great demonstration of overcoming fears and going for what you want in life in order to succeed.”

As our students and staff completed the unforgettable descent of the 269 feet high tower in Leeds, students from Manchester and Birmingham were also completing abseils in this co-ordinated charity event.  Collectively raising over £40,000!   The money will fund the building of a borehole, providing safe water for people who live in one of the most deprived areas of the world, making a huge difference to the lives of those living in the African village for life.

• Charity Abseil '09