Fear of heights isn’t stopping Fareham’s Lorna Payne from raising funds from her sponsored abseil down the Portsmouth Spinnaker Tower on 27th August. Undaunted by her lifelong terrors, she has pledged every penny to the British Heart Foundation and Baking Blind.
Lorna said; “I’ll be donating to Baking Blind after working with its founder, blind veteran Penny Melville-Brown, for over six years. I’ve grown to share her passion for improving the lives of disabled people, especially through helping them to get back to work. Baking Blind is her latest initiative to change perceptions and attitudes about just what disabled people can achieve.”
Penny Melville-Brown OBE
Lorna went on to add, “Penny won an international prize which took Baking Blind global to produce a fabulous series of cooking videos. And she is also working with other blind and visually impaired people across the Solent area.”
Supporting the British Heart Foundation is particularly important for Lorna. Not only do they offer direct help to those with health and disability needs but they were crucial in assisting Lorna and her family after her husband’s recent heart attack.
She explained, “The support that I have been given by the specialist cardiac nurses on the helpline has been invaluable to me. I would love to repay their kindness and dedication by making my own heart beat a little (a lot) faster!”
Taking on the Spinnaker tower abseil is no small challenge for full-time worker and mother of two Lorna (46) who has also been facing her own health problems.
“This is going to be one of the most terrifying days of my life. So I’d be really grateful to anyone who can come along at 8.30am on Monday 27th August and watch me quake in my shoes and then cheer me on to success. Every voice and hand-clap will spur me on to be brave down each inch of the descent. Just thinking about it now makes me feel wobbly but I’m absolutely determined to succeed.”
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