Last weekend team members from Health Spaces bravely took on Leicester Royal Infirmary’s famous 100ft abseil, appropriately named ‘The Big Abseil’, to help raise funds for the redevelopment of the chemotherapy suite at the hospital.
Beth Roberts, Creative Design Lead at Health Spaces, explains: “Not your standard Saturday afternoon but what an incredible experience to abseil from the Windsor Building at Leicester Royal Infirmary. The views were absolutely incredible it was such a unique perspective to have of the city being able to look into the Leicester Tigers Stadium and see the King Power Stadium in the distance, apparently you were able to see Old John at Bradgate Park but I didn’t do much looking around once I was on my way down! As soon as you could see the heights involved, I was beginning to question why I’d signed up to do this, but once you had got your feet to the edge and lowered yourself backwards it was actually quite fun, although I think that may have been due to not looking down the 100ft drop. Overall it was a brilliant experience and it felt great to be able to support my local NHS Trust.”
Tom Higgins, Pre-Construction Manager, also took on the challenge: “I was so excited to be a part of the upcoming abseil fundraiser for the Leicester Royal Infirmary’s new chemotherapy unit. Even though it stated it was 100ft, we were told it may be closer to 120ft, not that we could tell descending from such a height!”
“Being able to raise money for such a great cause gives a great sense of motivation and purpose, especially as we work day to day to create the best spaces for the NHS and know how much the funding can help contribute towards making a real difference in the lives of patients, families and NHS staff.”
Tom Higgins, Pre-Construction Manager
Nigel Thompson, Senior Principal for Delivery: “It was absolutely amazing to be involved in the Leicester Hospitals Charity fundraising event which involved abseiling down the side of the Windsor Building over 100ft in the air. The whole experience was incredible albeit the first steps of leaning back and trusting the harness and ropes was quite a feeling. Once that bit was over then you could almost enjoy the experience as you descended down to the ground and it was great to help raise funds for such a good cause.”
“We were thrilled to support Leicester Hospitals’ Charity, and are incredibly proud of Beth, Nigel and Tom for taking part in ‘The Big Abseil’ – no mean feat at a 100ft drop! The team has worked really hard to raise funds for the charity, with over £1000 already going towards the chemotherapy suite. The team is already busy planning further activities and we will look forward to supporting these events!”
Kelvin Moulding, Managing Director
To make a donation to the Health Spaces team, visit the team’s fundraising page here.
Leicester Hospitals Charity exists to support patients, their carers, and the NHS staff who look after them in Leicester, Leicestershire, Rutland and beyond. It does this through targeted fundraising campaigns and effective management of donations, to provide additional resources, assets and skills which link closely with the strategic aims of UHL and the broader strategic aims of NHS healthcare in the East Midlands. Leicester Hospitals Charity is a registered charity (no. 1056804).
