South and South East Fostering Team raise £607 for NSPCC!
On Sunday 15th March, Five Rivers Senior Practitioner, Rachel Rose, and Foster carer, Phillip Barnes, conquered their fears and abseiled down Arundel Castle to raise funds for the NSPCC.
Rachel shares her experience:
I can’t believe it’s been a fortnight since I dangled myself by a rope from the top of Arundel Castle Tower. I say I dangled myself off – we controlled our own descent but there were some very experienced abseilers at the top ensuring we didn’t free fall and hurt ourselves.
One of the foster carers from our team – Philip Barnes and myself decided to take part in a very rare opportunity to experience Arundel Castle from a completely new perspective – 180 ft up on the Castle Tower and abseiling down to the ground. We were raising money for the NSPCC and in total we raised £607 between us.
I’ve never done anything like this before and whilst I’m not generally scared of heights, I was worried about trusting a bit of rope to hold me safe that far up… did I say it was 180ft! We turned up on a typical March day – sunny spells but chilly. What I wasn’t prepared for was how windy it was up there on the castle tower. I’d already climbed 200 steps to get up there and was shown how unfit I was now I had to battle the wind to remain stable on the tower and not spin and crash my way down. I’d already witnessed a few crashes whilst viewing others from the bottom… would that be me!?! The guys rigging us up at the top were amazing – calm and collected they put us at our ease. Simple and clear instructions meant the bit that terrified me – leaning backwards off the tower and trusting my weight to a single rope – was much easier than I thought it would be. Now I had to trust myself to use the break and lower myself down. I was nervous but quickly found my stride and before I knew it, I’d reached the bottom – it was exhilarating – I asked to go again but apparently that wasn’t an option ?
If you would like to donate – the money is going to a really important cause – it’s not too late – the link is https://www.justgiving.com/team/teamfiverivers