Final revised date & location for my Plummet for Parkinson's - now 26th June 2021! Sponsor link now fixed!

 

As we all know - COVID19 has messed up life generally. One way that it has directly affected me is the date & location for my Plummet for Parkinson's! 

The new date & location has now been confirmed: 

2pm - 26th June 2021
Spinnaker Tower
Gunwharf Quays
Portsmouth
PO1 3TT

I'm raising funds to support Parkinson's research. My darling wife Kim works for Parkinson's UK - helping to support people diagnosed with this neurological condition. Also one of our dear friends has Parkinson's. Please sponsor my Parkinson's Plummet - and raise funds to help develop new treatments, faster.

Together we'll find a cure.

www.justgiving.com

Revised date for Don's Plummet for Parkinson's - now 22nd August 2020

We are sorry that Guildford Cathedral Abseil has been postponed until 22nd August 2020 - due to the current coronavirus (COVID-19) situation.

Everyone was looking forward to event day. We still are. We hope you are too!

We know not everyone will be able to make the new date. To help us understand who can still take part, please complete this quick survey. If you can’t make it, we will be in touch regarding your options.

Providing Government advice allows, we hope to see you on 22nd August. Thank you for your hard work and commitment - we appreciate all you do to support people with Parkinson’s.

Thank you for your patience during this uncertain time. 

Kind regards, Parkinson's UK

OK - looks like we might be back on for this event - God willing. I've been really looking forward to doing my plummet! Huge thanks to my sponsors - please bear with - we'll get there eventually!

Don Tocher - Plummeting for Parkinson's

Don's Plummet for Parkinson's - done at last! What an experience, & supporting a very worthy cause

What an absolutely incredible afternoon we all had in Portsmouth on Saturday. Lovely weather, warm with light winds, turning sunny as the day went on. Perfect for abseiling down the Spinnaker Tower!

I was pleased to have a support team (Tracy & Bri, Kim, Rosie, Harry, Jamie, Megan, Benji, & Katy - South Central Regional Fundraiser for Parkinson's UK) there to egg me on! 

This abseil event was superbly organised by Extreme Horizons, the equipment (harnesses, ropes, shackles, etc) we used were first rate & in superb condition. Training & guidance was excellent. Safety was paramount!

While we were at the bottom of the Spinnaker Tower, looking up it looked a long way (100 metres / 330 feet) to the top. The Spinnaker Tower is apparently the second highest abseil in the UK - the Shard is #1. However, when our group of 6 trainee abseilers arrived at the top - the ground looked very far away!!! People looked like dots! At that point - the enormity of what we were about to do finally sunk in!

Please do take ~15mins to watch the video. At this point in the event - I had to take a leap of faith (or step at least). It's an incredible thing to truly put your life in the hands of another... While descending from the top - I started with a few inches at a time. As the abseil progressed and I got more confident: I did bigger progressions. It's a "weird" thing to feel the bounce in the rope!

As it had just been painted, we had to wear silly plastic overshoes - to avoid getting shoe marks down the tower. By the time we reached terra-firma - the overshoes had been thoroughly shredded!

Massive thanks to Zurich Community Trust for allowing us to piggyback onto their fundraising event (I was originally booked to abseil Guildford Cathedral in May 2020 - but due to COVID - this got delayed several times, then cancelled!). Huge thanks also to Parkinson's UK - for this fantastic & fun opportunity, to support their very worthy cause.

Thank you to all of the very kind folks who have sponsored & encouraged me so far. If you would still like to donate - it's not too late! Here is the JustGiving link - which finally closes for donations on 7th July 2021. After that date, please use this link.

www.youtube.com

British Summer Time: 01:00hrs Sunday 25th March. Clocks go forward one hour!

This weekend sees us observing the ancient ritual of changing the clocks, so we're delving into the history books to see how telling the time has changed over time.

560 BC - The Ancient Greeks invent the sundial. It's about time. 

0 AD - Think putting the clocks forward is confusing? Try changing your entire calendar system. 

330 - The hour glass is invented. Easy to put back an hour. Tricky to time a 100m sprint. 

1629 - Invention of the cuckoo clock. Sales of rooster clocks plummet. 

1868 - The Swiss create the first wrist watch. No more lugging a grandfather clock around. 

1990 - Stop. Hammer time. 

2018 - You spend fifty nine minutes trying to change your car clock from 8am to 9am, only for it to do it by itself and still be wrong.

3027 - The digital watches are in charge now. You have to count your own steps.

Remember to adjust your clocks forward one hour!

(spring forward, fall back).

With thanks to the lovely people at: Innocent Drinks

Don Tocher - Plummeting for Parkinson's! Abseiling from Guildford Cathedral's tower - 16th May 2020

Abseiling from Guildford Cathedral's tower!

Location: Guildford Cathedral, GU2 7UP

Date: Saturday 16 May 2020

I'm raising funds to support Parkinson's research. My darling wife Kim works for Parkinson's UK - helping to support people diagnosed with this neurological condition. Also one of my dear friends has Parkinson's. Please sponsor my Parkinson's Plummet - and raise funds to help develop new treatments, faster. Together we'll find a cure.

"Once you've climbed the 249 steps to get to the top of the Cathedral Tower, you get to experience the beautiful panoramic views of Guildford before making your epic descent. The views are spectacular, the challenge is terrifying, the cause rewarding. Are you up for it?"

www.justgiving.com

Another revised date for my Plummet for Parkinson's - now 8th May 2021!

I’m so disappointed to advise but Guildford Cathedral have informed us that they are regrettably having to cancel the planned abseil on 22 August 2020. We really appreciate your patience, having already postponed the event from it’s original date of 16 May.

The abseil provider had been working hard to adjust arrangements for the day to ensure compliance with current government guidelines but cleaning requirements for shared use of equipment mean that we cannot go ahead. You matter. Your health and your support is important to us.

Lockdown has changed all of our lives. And for many people with Parkinson’s, symptoms have got worse over the last few months. Parkinson’s didn’t stop for coronavirus, and neither did we. We’re supporting people in the ways they need us to right now. And we’re rapidly adapting our pioneering research so that we can develop new treatments.

This is why your commitment is so important.

The date for our Guildford Cathedral abseil next year is 08 May 2021.
I have requested to be added to this date - so fingers crossed / third time lucky? Would you like to sponsor me to raise finds for Parkinson's research?

www.justgiving.com

Yearning for the "freedom" of the open road? Mandatory speed limiters on new UK cars (bikes too eventually) from 2022...

All new vehicles sold in Europe – including the UK – will be fitted with a mandatory speed limiter from 2022 to keep cars within the UK speed limits and boost road safety.

• From 6 July 2022, all newly launched cars will legally have to be fitted with a speed limiter

• European Commission reached a provisional agreement in 2019

• The UK is likely to adopt the new speed limiting rules, even after Brexit

The European Commission has reached a provisional agreement that all new vehicles sold in Europe will be fitted with a speed limiter as a legal requirement from 6 July 2022. The 2019/2044 regulation also mandates all new cars that have already launched be fitted with an Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA) by 7 July 2024.

While it hasn’t been decided, the UK will likely obey the new road safety regulations despite leaving the EU as even after Brexit, the UK has retained most EU laws for new cars. Following this agreement also helps in standardising the car manufacturing process for different markets.

Using speed limiters successfully would also be a step forward in developing self-driving cars in the UK.

The speed limiter technology, called Intelligent Speed Assistant (ISA) uses GPS data and/or traffic-sign-recognition cameras to determine the maximum speed allowed in an area. The system then limits the engine’s power and the vehicle’s speed to that limit.

Have a watch of this excellent video by Stuart Fillingham - and get a terrifying glimpse of what is round the corner: speed limiters & data loggers... I don't want the chief witness for the prosecution to be my own vehicle! Like Uncle Stu said: George Orwell was right, he only got the year wrong: not 1984, more like 2024! I confidently predict that sales of new vehicles will plummet, and demand/price of quality used cars & bikes will increase. Oh look: it's already happened! 

www.autotrader.co.uk