Can you imagine abseiling down a 150-ft drop whilst raising £1200 for charity? Laura Speight did exactly that, along with her dad and sister to raise money for Diabetes UK and QE Charitable Funds. Laura and her family smashed their targets of £250 for each charity, raising more than £700 for QE Charitable Funds to support Gateshead Health’s breast cancer unit.
Raising money for breast cancer services was something very close to Laura as her mam was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2022. Her mam had a lumpectomy in January 2023 but developed a hematoma 2 weeks later needing more surgery. It was a worrying time for Laura and her family but the staff at the unit were brilliant and very supportive. Laura’s mam had a mixture of feelings throughout this difficult period, but the breast cancer staff helped her with this and looked after her.
Thankfully Laura’s mam has now fully recovered and is back dancing and enjoying a busy social life with her family and friends. She is also enjoying her time as a devoted grandma to her four grandchildren and happily offers a helping hand whenever her family need her.
As part of Laura’s parents’ 70th birthday, she decided she wanted to do something different and came up with the idea to fundraise to help people. She proposed an abseil to her sister Rachel who just needed a tiny bit of convincing as it is a nerve-racking experience for most. Laura contacted Endless Adventure North East, a local company, and arranged an abseil for 4 November, in the Lake District. Laura’s dad also joined in on the abseil at Cathedral Quarry in Langdale in the Lake District which hosted a 150ft drop.
Laura said, “We were all slightly nervous but more excited and looking forward to it. It was a great experience and we loved doing it so much that we decided to do it twice. It felt amazing doing it especially after so many of our family and friends supporting us and donating to a great cause”.
Clare Drummond, Manager of QE Charitable Funds, said, “I want to say a huge thank you to Laura and her family for deciding to take on this challenge to raise funds for the breast cancer Unit. Thank you to everyone who donated to help QE Charitable Funds. We know this money will be put to great use helping those in similar positions to Laura’s mam”.
Are you thinking of doing a fundraiser for QE Charitable Funds but unsure what to do? Take a look at our fundraising page on our website for some ideas and have a read through what other fundraisers have done to raise funds for QE Charitable Funds on our news page.