Abseiling for Twickenham Church

12.00.00pm GMT Tue 26th Sep 2006

Dr. Vincent Cable MP

Local MP Vincent Cable joined parishioners' abseiling from the top of the Christopher Wren tower of All Hallows in Twickenham this weekend, in support of the new vicar (Nicola Stanley) in her fund raising efforts for a new organ. The church is one of the borough's unsung architectural jewels; the tower was built in the City of London by Sir Christopher Wren and transported brick by brick to Twickenham in 1940. The Renatus Harris organ is world famous but needs two years of work to restore it; so the church is having to invest in a new one. The new all women team at All Hallows - Rev. Nicola Stanley and her curate - hit upon the idea of a sponsored abseil and asked Vincent Cable to participate. He said: "my local church does great work in the community and has been a great support to my family in the past. My two sons, Paul and Hugo, both played the organ there and it is important that the organ and the tradition of high quality church music are maintained".

"This was my second abseil and it was frankly even more terrifying than last time, from the west stand of the RFU in support of a cancer charity. There was a cluster of us huddling nervously on the roof of the church tower when a couple of quite elderly ladies, who had never abseiled before, led the way and, after that, there was no going back."