Record
breaking Children in Need at Merry Hill
A world
indoor climbing record was smashed at the Merry Hill Centre as BBC
WM raised over £180,000 for the 2002 Children In Need Appeal.
Climber
Paddy Doyle, already a record-breaker, got himself into the record
books yet again by scaling the equivalent of 1,600 feet in just
30 minutes, complete with a 40 pound weight on his back.
BBC
WM's Jenny Wilkes, who co-hosted the Children in Need extravaganza,
said: "Paddy
didn't just break the record, he absolutely blitzed it, beating
the previous best by more than 500 feet."
Paddy
accomplished the feat on a moving mountain, specially constructed
at the Merry Hill Centre.
The
record was witnessed by crowds of generous shoppers, cheering him
on and filling buckets with their donations, and was officially
verified on the evening.
Jenny
Wilkes was joined at the Merry Hill Centre by fellow BBC WM presenter
Bob
Brolly and Ashley Blake, recent winner of the Royal Television Society
(Midland Centre) Personality of the Year award for his work on BBC
Midlands Today.
Among
the more unusual acts they introduced were staff from the Edgbaston
Leapfrog Day Nursery, who trampolined while holding a jelly; and
Anthony from the Bromsgrove branch of Asda, who endured three hours
in a bath of cold custard.
"We
had a wonderful night with the generous people of Brierley Hill,"
said Jenny.
"The
money raised via BBC WM helped towards the overall West Midlands
figure of £663,000."
Over
the whole UK, the charity raised more
than £13.5 million on the night (Friday 15 November).
|
