Nine giraffes
Frome delivery office manager, Stephen Cleaver, and 20 other intrepid colleagues from Frome, Wells, Glastonbury and Yeovil, abseiled from the north-west tower of the iconic Wells Cathedral in Somerset in aid of underprivileged children in South Africa.
A family-run charity, which is very much close to Stephen’s heart, SOS Africa is a Shepton Mallet-based child sponsorship organisation, which invests 100% of all the donations they receive into the education and care of African children.
Since 2003, the charity has provided 178 disadvantaged children, from grades 1 to 12, with a personal education programme or learning support scheme tailored specifically to their needs, helping them to break the poverty cycle and reach their full potential.
Wells Cathedral is popularly known as one of the most beautiful English cathedrals, with a history dating back to the 12th century. SOS Africa representatives and abseil specialists, Aardvark Endeavours, organised the 124ft once-in-a-lifetime event to raise funds for SOS Africa and Wells Cathedral.
Stephen and his brave band of abseiling adventurers climbed the 262 steps to the top of the tower (the height of nine giraffes to be precise) to freefall abseil from a cantilever platform assembled on the tower roof, from where they were able to savour breath-taking views across the Somerset Levels to Glastonbury Tor and beyond!
‘It was an amazing day,’ said Stephen. ‘It was lovely to see so many people from different units, managers and posties coming together for a good cause to raise some money. It was also a great bit of team building.’
SOS co-founder, Matt Crowcombe, said: ‘The SOS Africa staff and children are hugely grateful to the 21-strong team from Royal Mail for conquering their fears and raising an incredible £3,654 for the charity's reading programmes in South Africa.’
