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When I saw Birmingham Airport Head of Commercial Richard Gill at last week’s ACI Europe event in Helsinki, he was nervously waiting to go on the Finnair SkyWheel, one of the city’s top tourist attractions and home to the Welcome Cocktail that preceded the conference.
At the time he readily admitted that heights were “not really his thing”, as he prepared to board Helsinki’s equivalent of the London Eye and soar into the night sky.
It was with some surprise therefore that a few days later Richard told me by e-mail that he was about to put his worst fears to the test once again, this time by abseiling down Diamond House, one of the tallest buildings at Birmingham Airport.
He gritted his teeth and got in harness for a wonderful cause though: Acorn Children’s Hospice, a charity covering Birmingham, Walsall & Worcester, providing specialist care services to life limited and illness-threatened children.
Just before the weekend, when I sent him a note of encouragement (and noting that he was a braver man than I for attempting such a stunt) Richard admitted he wasn’t exactly looking forward to it.
However, as our image shows, he swallowed his terror and clambered over the edge and managed – somehow – to get to the bottom. Bravo!
At the time of writing Richard had raised close to £1,500 in donations for the fund. You can add to this at his Just Giving page at https://www.justgiving.com/richard-gill2910