Up to 60 former students from the City of Ely College plan will abseil down their old school building - the soon to be demolished Needham’s Tower – to raise money for charity this Saturday, March 25.
The class of ’78 plan to support two charities, Little Miracle and First Responders.
The idea came from Ian Cox, of Ely, who contacted a few of his former class mates about having a reunion ahead of their 50th birthdays.
Four of the former students met up and agreed that the milestone should be celebrated in style. It was then that they hatched the plan to abseil down their former school in aid of two local charities.
Mr Cox said: “We wanted to do something different, that students can get involved in… something to remember the building by when it is demolished.
“We wanted to keep it local to see the real benefits in the community; Little Miracles are creating a century garden so we are hoping our donation will benefit them greatly.
“The Ely Community First Responders are a dedicated volunteer group who save lives by quickly attending incidents and accidents,” he added.
The old school friends are also planning on giving the school a legacy gift to commemorate the event, for example sport apparatus.
The event has been backed by the school and Dave Talbott’s Adventure Events will host the event.
The abseil will take place from 9am until 5pm. There will also be a raffle, bouncy castles and physical ‘donation stations’. Members of the public can sponsor an abseiler. There will also be live music from The Rocking Ukuleles.
There will also be a party in the evening followed by a breakfast on the Sunday morning to remember the classmates who have died.
Geoffrey Everett will be attending the event in honour of his cousin Carl Everett, who died from cancer, and was a former classmate of Ian’s.
Community first responders (CFRs) Barbara Knott, Lesley Marsh and Richard Grosvenor, who all hail from the Littleport CFR group, are hoping to raise awareness of the important role they play in their community, whilst raising much needed funding for defibrillators (AEDs), kits and equipment for the ‘Ely Cluster’ (encompassing the Littleport, Ely, Soham, Witchford, Wicken and Cottenham CFR groups).
Barbara Knott, co-ordinator for Littleport CFRs, said: “I’ve never done anything like this before; it scares the wind out of me!
“But I’m willing to give it a go because it’s for such a great cause.”
In the build up to the event, £120 has already been raised for Little Miracles and Ely CFR groups, but Barbara is hoping that total will scale to the dizzy heights of £1,200.
If you are interested in donating, you can do so via the team’s Crowdfunding page: http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/ely-reunion-charity-abseil.
You can even sponsor individual abseilers. If this interests you, contact Barbara at
b-hunt@sky.com and she’ll be more than happy to show you how.
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