At 93 years old, abseiling is an activity that could realistically be placed well within the realm of ‘impossible’. But not for Margaret Carmichael, who today abseiled down the Etihad Stadium, alongside her daughter and granddaughter, in a bid to raise money for charity.
She undertook the impressive feat this morning in aid of Manchester City’s charitable arm City in the Community, with a focus on youth mental health programme City Thrive.
READ MORE: The 93 year-old adrenaline junkie who is ABESEILING down the Etihad Stadium
Speaking to the Manchester Evening New s after the descent, Margaret was as cool as a cucumber.
“It was great! I feel alright after it, actually,” she said. “I wasn’t too nervous at the top, but I didn’t want to make a fool of myself getting over the barrier.
“It’s a special day.”
Abseiling has been on Margaret’s bucket list for 30 years - but for daughter Helen and granddaughter Kate, the occasion was a little more nerve wracking.
“There’s no way I would have ever done it if she [Margaret] wasn’t doing it,” Kate told the M.E.N after completing her abseil. “Now I’ve done it, I'm really glad I did. But you wouldn’t have got me doing it if she wasn’t.
“She did amazingly!”
When asked what it was that appealed to Margaret about the abseil she said: "The view from the top maybe. No, in all seriousness it's just the idea of doing it. Nothing more, nothing less."
"I'm always up for a challenge. Heights don't bother me at all.”
And this isn’t the first impressive stunt Margaret has participated in. In the months leading up to her 90th birthday she went up in a hot air balloon above the South Lakes as well as zip wiring at Zip World in north Wales, home of the world's fastest zip line Velocity.
While she wasn’t actually allowed to go on Velocity, she did tackle the Titan line becoming their oldest ever participant in the process.
Margaret, Helen and Kate have raised over £1,300 for charity. The money will go towards helping young people around Greater Manchester with support for mental health issues through City Thrive.
With half the family being Blues fans, the Etihad Stadium was a special place for three generations of Margaret’s family to take the descent. But granddaughter Kate told the M.E.N that they’d even managed to get some of the family’s United fans over for the day, in an event that surpasses even the strongest of rivalries.
Rachel Cummins, from City in the Community, explained how City Thrive works in partnership with the NHS to support the mental health of young people under 25 in Greater Manchester.
“We have a full time mental health clinician here,” she said. “It means that any of the participants can get immediate support if they are showing any signs of poor mental wellbeing. They don’t have to go to the doctors and get on a waiting list.
“These funds will help make sure that we can carry on this work for as long as possible, because obviously mental health isn’t going away.”
When asked what’s next for the Knutsford grandma, she smiled and said “Nothing - yet!”. But something tells us this won’t be the last we’re seeing of this 93-year-old adrenaline junkie.
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