Second time lucky for Hampshire highways team’s Spinnaker abseil

06 July 2017
Image of a man assailing.

 

Seven Amey employees have supported the charity FitzRoy by abseiling from the top of the iconic Spinnaker Tower.

Wendy Stewart, Jane Norriss, Laura Peeke, Dominic Banting, James Neale and David Fawcett from Amey’s highways team and Nicolle Cloete from Hampshire County Council abseiled off the top of the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth at the end of June. The tower is taller than Big Ben at nearly 330 feet and provides phenomenal views over the Solent.

Unfortunately, the team were not able to abseil on the day they planned to as high winds made a descent dangerous. However, the team woke up on the next day with the weather appreciably better and they finally got their chance to take the leap of faith from the tower. All seven completed their abseil with great gusto and with a lot of relief!

The team has already raised almost £2000 for FitzRoy, a charity which transforms the lives of people with learning disabilities, helping them to live the life they choose, independent, safe from harm and doing the things most people take for granted. Amey’s David Fawcett was determined to support the charity after visiting the charity’s centre in East Meon in Hampshire and seeing first-hand the difference made to people’s lives.

Jim Apted from Fitzroy commented: “Team Amey was fantastic from start to finish – after the disappointment of the cancellation, they regrouped and we slotted them into Sunday’s schedule. None of the team was fazed – in fact they were positively gung-ho! I can’t thank them enough for helping to make the day fun and for raising so much money for our Love4Life project which helps people with learning disabilities and autism make friendships and find love.  What absolute troopers they all are!”

Jane Norriss, 60 this year, added: “It was an amazing experience, I started and finished with a smile and enjoyed the abseil so very much! Thank you to everyone who encouraged me and donated to such a worthwhile charity”.

If you would like to donate to the team and support Fitzroy you can at https://www.justgiving.com/companyteams/ameyabseil