Abseil was for the not-so-brave too

BROKEN feet, vertigo and even a wheelchair were not enough to stop a group of intrepid people stepping off the top of Ipswich Hospital's maternity block for charity.

Details of some of the abseilers are still coming in days after the annual event and include Bentley mum, Mary Chandler who has an extreme phobia of heights.

She chose to do the abseil to cure herself of the problem while doing a spot of fundraising.

And teenager Tim Winch was determined that he was going ahead with the abseil, even when he fractured a bone in his foot.

Members of Hospital Radio Ipswich also joined the fun to celebrate their 30th anniversary, and Cassie Beal, who is in a wheelchair, was not to be left out.

Nine of the radio team took the challenge in their first attempt at abseiling.

For Cassie however it was a major achievement. After being hoisted up a vertical iron rung ladder by rope onto the roof from the 9th floor, she was helped throughout her abseil by two of the instructors.

Mary Chandler, 36, does something for charity every year and because she managed to cure her fear of spiders by picking them up, she decided to do the abseil to conquer her fear of heights.

She is still terrified of heights but she did manage to raise £187 for the Royal National Institution for the Blind.

Mary said: "It was absolutely terrible and I am never doing it again.

"Getting over the top was not too bad but it is one of those things that you can't decide halfway down that you no longer want to do it.

"Even more embarrassing is that my 15-year-old daughter took to it like she has been doing it all her life."

Tim Winch, 18, was raising money for Age Concern Suffolk's ARC appeal to build a respite centre for people with Alzheimer's.

His uncle, Nick Winch, is the development manager for Age Concern in the county and he said: "I am really proud of Tim.

"He recently fractured a bone in his foot and we were worried that he wouldn't be able to do the jump. It took a lot of nerve."