Anderton Abseil

Anderton Abseil: 7 October 2001
Photos & captions by Martin Ludgate.

On 7 October, 21 WRG volunteers took part in a sponsored abseil down the Anderton boat lift - Britain’s last surviving canal boat lift, which used to raise and lower boats between the River Weaver and the Trent & Mersey Canal until it became unsafe due to corrosion in the early 1980s.

The sponsorship will go toward the restoration of the boat lift to full working order. The restoration is now well on the way.

Matt likes to see where he's going, so he abseiled forwards!	Rupert was a last-minute addition to the list of abseilers, but still managed to raise 100 pounds in a week. He seems to be enjoying it!
Paul 'Mole' seems to have decided to come down head-first... maybe he thinks there's less danger of his hair getting messed up that way?

Joanne 'Smudge' threatened to abseil naked if enough people
sponsored her, but settled for doing it in a rather minimalist top (made from an old WRG t-shirt) which threatened to fall to pieces as she descended...

Is Martin telling a fishy story? Or boasting about the size of the next issue of 'Navvies'?

"Look at me, I can fly!" Glenn got talked into abseiling forwards by an offer of extra money from one of his sponsors.

WRG Chairman Mike shows his best side...

Jen enjoys a brief respite from Logistical things.

Lou: "I really am enjoying this... honestly!"

Izzy sticks two fingers up at the chap holding her safety rope... risky or what?

Dave Wedd representing WRG BITM.

I'm sorry I can't think of anything funny to say about Gav....

...or Katherine...

We'd better not repeat what Bungle said as he leaned over the edge... mind you, half of Cheshire must have heard it!

Ralph found that the gaps between the scaffolding were a tight fit for his broad shoulders on his way up the ladder... still, he managed not to break the rope on the way down!

'One small step for Dave Parish...'

Unfortunately Nina Whiteman had to drop out of the Abseil
because she had damaged her back quite badly and couldn't risk making it worse. Fortunately Andy Jones stepped into the gap and did the abseil instead of her. We hope that those of you who sponsored Nina will be happy to sponsor Andy instead. And we really do hope that Nina's back gets better.

Harry's just hanging around!

The WRG Abseil organiser Spencer as very few people have ever seen him... from above! (Well, he's about 6ft 4in tall!)

NABO chairman Sue seems to be enjoying it...

Dentist Viv approaching the end of his descent. Let's hope he's
as good at extracting sponsorship as extracting teeth...

Finally, a group photo of all the WRGies plus the other people from BW, IWA and the Waterways Trust who did the abseil.

Have you sent your sponsorship in yet? If not, please fill in the sponsor form (available in PDF format and Word format) and send it off with your cheque now. Thanks!