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A leap of faith by the charity team at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals paid off after it “roped in” 35 willing volunteers, who together raised more than £11,500 in sponsorship by abseiling the 128ft Peel Tower on the top of Holcombe Hill near Ramsbottom last Saturday.

The group’s donation will go to support ground-breaking projects across Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that are beyond NHS means, including initiatives to help parents-to-be, new parents and newborns via its Baby Beat charity.

The charity team’s Lucy Clark, who organised the abseil, which was sponsored byPreston architects FWP Ltd, said: “Congratulations to all our abseilers, who really had to brave the weather! It went from sunshine to hale and sunshine again within minutes and the wind was a little crazy. It certainly didn’t help anyone’s nerves so to go over the edge in those conditions took some courage.

“Thank you to all sponsors and to FWP Ltd, whose event sponsorship meant we could subsidise the cost of participation. Thanks also to our abseil experts, the team from Alternative Adventure, for literally showing all our abseilers the ropes and for their unfailing encouragement.”

Members of the Royal Preston Hospital’s stroke team were among NHS staff to take part in the abseil

The abseil was the second annual abseil of Peel Tower Lucy has organised. The first was held last year and had 21 volunteers sign up, who collectively raised £2,000 for the charity team’s Children’s Fund.

Peel Tower was built in 1852 as a tribute to local son Sir Robert Peel, founder of the police force and prime minister from 1841 to 1846. At the start of the 2023 season of Strictly Come Dancing, it was used as the location to introduce Bury-born actor Layton Williams to his professional dance partner Nikita Kuzmin, who went on to reach the show’s grand finale.

For further information on the charity team’s work, see https://lthcharity.org.uk/ and

Leap of faith pays off for charity team in Lancashire who raise more than £11,000