HARLOW: Abseilers set to raise £60,000 for charity

3:48pm Sunday 4th May 2008

SUPERMAN, Batwoman and an adventurous 92-year-old man have helped raise tens of thousands of pounds for charity by abseiling from the 110ft Church Langley water tower.

Organisers hope the two-day event, yesterday and today, will raise £60,000 - taking the total raised in the 11-year history of the fund-raiser, organised by the Rotary Club of Harlow Tye, to a staggering £450,000.

Harry Joseph, of School Lane, in Harlow, became the oldest person to take part when he dropped to the ground earlier this afternoon.

He was pledged £620 and was supporting St Clare Hospice, at Hastingwood, along with family members Keith Thompson and Kelli Arnold who also abseiled.

Harry said afterwards: "It was exhilarating." He added: "About seven years ago I decided to do things I'd never done before."

And so at the age of 85 he went paragliding, and has also been in a glider.

Of his abseil, he said: "It was a challenge."

John Foster, whose son Robert, was killed along with two colleagues in a friendly fire incident while serving with the 1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment in Afghanistan last August, was joined by Robert's friend and neighbour Grieg Williamson as they raised £1,000 for the 1st Royal Anglian Afghanistan Memorial Fund.

Speaking at the top of the water tower, John said: "He'll be up there having a right laugh - and saying I'm too old!"

Grieg, who undertook his Army trainiing with Robert before opting for a career with the London Fire Brigade, went running with Robert, but remembers: "I could never keep up with him, he was always too fast for me."

Other organisations benefiting from the annual event were the Epping-based The Dream Factory, Upper Clapton Rugby Club, at Thornwood, Isabel Hospice, the Harlow-based Streets2Homes charity, Harlow St John Ambulance, the Friends of Henry Moore School, Motability, the Alzheimers Society, the Parkinson's Disease Society, Chigwell Disabled Group, Harlow Sub-Aqua Club, Marie Curie Cancer Care, the St Elizabeth's Centre at Much Hadham and the Friends of Johnny Wong (the Victoria Theatre, Old Harlow).

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