University team abseiling Spinnaker Tower to support hearing dogs charity

The team of five charity fundraisers are hoping to add to the £5,000 they have already collected this year for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, by descending the 170 metre tower on Sunday 25 May.

Audiologist Katrina Faulds and Deputy Finance Manager Lorna Leverett are being joined on the decent by Pete Hamilton and Michael Vowles - both husbands of AIS staff members, and Jan Hinks, a Learning Support Assistant at a local Secondary School.

"I'm slightly apprehensive and scared but also ready to get out of my comfort zone," says Lorna, "I've never abseiled before and probably wouldn't have chosen 170 metres for my first attempt, but when the opportunity arose to support Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, I wanted to be part of the team."

The Auditory Implant Service is based at the University of Southampton, with surgeries at five hospitals across Hampshire. The service provides cochlear implants, bone anchored hearing aids and middle ear implants to help deaf children and adults to hear.

The team decided to support Hearing Dogs for Deaf People after a visit from the charity during a training day. Hearing dogs are trained by the organisation to respond to up to ten sounds, ranging from the ring of a doorbell to a sounding smoke alarm.

Various fundraising events have already taken place around the University, including a bake off completion, a second-hand clothes sale and a summer fete.

Auditory Implant Service Director, Carl Verschuur, said: "During the training day we saw the huge difference the dogs could make to the lives of deaf people. The team voted to make Hearing Dogs our Charity of the Year with a target of £5,000, which we have now surpassed.

"We hope our money will go towards socialising and training a new hearing dog puppy who will eventually be matched with a deaf person and improve their independence, confidence and security. This is a wonderful charity that creates truly life changing partnerships between hearing dogs and deaf recipients. We are extremely happy to have exceeded our original fundraising target thanks to the generosity of university staff and our patients and we know the money will go to good use."

To sponsor the abseiling team visit www.justgiving.com/teams/aisdrop .