Page 8 - Salamander News Letter September 2023

THE SALAMANDER Newsletter No 2
Past Master Alan Wells QFSM, raised funds for the Lord Mayor’s Appeal 2023 by a valiant abseil of the Lloyds Building in the City of London on 4th July 2023
The Abseil Challenge is one of the official events of The Lord Mayor’s Appeal 2023. Seventy- one other people shared the experience, raising an estimated £90,000 for the Appeal supporting worthy charities.
I was no stranger to being suspended on ropes from a city building, having undertaken previous abseil challenges for the Lord Mayor’s appeal in 2012 and 2017. Doing such activities again, especially as one gets older, does gives rise to a little trepidation.
The mind and spirit is willing, but the body
might begin to feel a
little different about it. Confidence and faith in
the equipment and the people operating the abseil is all important and wins over anxiety. I arrived at Lloyd’s in good time for my scheduled slot from 11.00 a.m. thankful that despite the forecast, it was dry though overcast.
The Lloyd’s Building on Lime Street in the City of London is unique with most of its services on the external faces of the building. They can be viewed from the ground or more closely by riding in one of the outside lifts. The ultimate experience is to go to the roof and from among the mass of plant and pipes located there abseil an external wall to the ground.
Suited and booted
At the Abseil Challenge reception I found Catalina who was running the event for the Corporation introduced myself, signed away my life on a disclaimer, donned my Worshipful Company of Firefighters tabard and was passed over to the ground level abseil team people to be kitted out with harness, helmet and gloves. A group of three or four of us thus kitted out, was taken to the highest level by lift. From there, via stairs, to the roof where we traversed walkways, ducked under, or stepped over pipes, scrambled up or down
short ladders to a point where the roof abseil team prepared us for the abseil descent to ground. This was to be via one of two installed ropes systems which ran from anchorage points on steel work to lines disappearing over the edge of the building into the abyss below.
You don’t try to look down at this stage, just admire the view over the City, chat to waiting colleagues and pay attention to any further briefings.
When your turn comes
your harness is checked
over and finally tightened
with quite vicious tugs which feels like you’re being strapped into a ‘straight jacket’
The abseil team member on the parapet passes a green rope to the guy who has just strapped you in. This, he explains, is a safety line which, if all else fails, including you, will be used to lower you safely to the ground. He clips it onto your harness, asks your name, introduces you to the guy on the parapet and invites you to go and join him.
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