Last Saturday, August 20th, DDCA together with Outfit Moray organised a day of abseiling from the clocktower. Participants could choose to go off from the rooftop or through the top floor window. 21 brave souls abseiled from the roof and 13 abseilers made their way down from the top window.
On the morning of the event, the climbing experts and instructors from Outfit Moray set up all the rope work, while the rest of us coned off parts of the street. Participants put on the harnesses and helmets on the ground floor to then climb the long spiral staircase up through the tower to the top. To get on to the roof, participants were guided by the instructors up through a ceiling window. Definitely an adventure in itself! Although the first few abseilers of the day experienced some rain, the clouds cleared quickly and we had glorious sunshine for the rest of the day.
Rikki Clark was photographer on the day and got some great shots of the abseilers. In the photos, there are lots of good facial expressions as folk prepare to descend the tower. You can have a look at the photos on Outfit Moray’s facebook page.
Back in spring when Outfit Moray approached the DDCA to start planning the event I said I definitely would not abseil as I am scared of heights. However, after having watched over 30 people do it and seeing their happiness afterwards, I decided last minute to give it a go. I wasn’t brave enough to tackle the roof but I did abseil from the window. As it is a rare chance you get to abseil off the Dufftown clocktower, I’m really glad I did it.
The participants have been fantastic with fundraising money towards Outfit Moray and DDCA. With this financial support, we will be able to tackle some of the most urgent repairs on the clocktower. If you want to get involved with the restoration of the clocktower or hear more about the project, we are organising a public meeting about it next Wednesday 31st of August 7-8pm at the Glassworks Cafe here in Dufftown. We will talk about what we have done so far and the current situation, with time for questions, feedback and opportunities to get involved. It is a big project and the more the community works on it together the better the outcome will be!
As always, I’d love to hear from you. Just get in touch if you have any questions or comments.
