On Saturday 5th September, ten extremely brave AICR supporters got kitted up and braced themselves for a once-in-a-lifetime experience: to free-fall abseil down the Titan Crane. At 150ft tall, the Titan Crane was the worlds first giant cantilever crane and it has stood on the banks of the River Clyde for over 100 years. It is a true Scottish landmark and a perfect location for a true Scottish charity like AICR to host an event and raise some vital funds for research!
We arrived at the Titan at noon on Saturday and, despite deteriorating weather conditions, all participants were given the go ahead to get their gear on and get up the crane. First up was Geraldine’s son, Andrew, who also happened to be celebrating his 21st birthday on the same day. He was closely followed by Debbie and Andrew from the Royal Bank in St Andrews, who completed their abseils in record time! There was a break for some much-needed birthday cake and refreshments, and then Suzanne joined the seven remaining participants as they made their ascent up to the top of the crane and prepared to brave the elements! Well done to Chris, Gerry, Kim, Robert, Jennifer, Iain and Kirsten who all had to battle through strong gusts of wind before finally reaching the bottom. All abseils were completed within an hour and luckily we came away with no injuries - just happy faces!
Well done to every one of our participants - we are so proud of you all!
We are well on our way to reaching our £2000 target but if you would still like to sponsor the participants then you can do so by clicking here.
Due to the success of this event, we are planning to organise another abseil early in the New Year. If you would like to take part then please contact our events team here.
You can view all the photos from the day on our flickr page.
Watch the history of the Titan Crane on the video below that the students at St Stephens Primary School in Clydebank created.
