5th September 2019
The 5th September marks the International Day of Charity so we thought we’d shout about some of the amazing things that happen here at the Spinnaker Tower!
The Spinnaker Tower has become synonymous with various charitable causes, whether that be through raising the awareness of charities through our spectacular lighting, or people taking on some of our adrenaline experiences such as our famous 100 metre abseil challenge and more recently, The Drop.
Whether it’s us as a team doing our bit for charity or people coming here to take on their own challenges, the Spinnaker Tower has been a part of some amazing things.
Here are a few things you might not know:
Lighting
Did you know that anyone can apply to light the Tower? Our iconic lighting makes the Tower shine bright over the City of Portsmouth and can be seen from 23 miles away, from Gosport to the Isle of Wight to West Sussex.
In 2019 so far we have lit the Tower 51 times for charitable causes and to raise awareness, and the Tower has been lit almost all of the 11 colour options that we have available. We have lit for causes such as World Down Syndrome Day to National Epilepsy Day and many more.
If you’re interested as to why the Tower is lit a particular colour, then you can head to our lighting page or check out our social media to find out what we’re raising awareness for.
Abseiling
Abseiling started at the Spinnaker Tower in 2011 and has become the ultimate adrenaline challenge for people to take on. So far, over 15,000 people have conquered the abseil challenge, meaning that the total distance abseiled by all participants is more than the distance between earth and the International Space Station and back!
Charities can hire out private abseiling days or if you fancy just taking on the challenge then you can sign up online.
Around 25 charities take part each year with abseiling challenges. One of the most well-known charity abseil days is run by local charity, The Rowans Hospice. ‘Daring Doris’ Long MBE broke the world record when abseiling for The Rowans Hospice and became the oldest person to abseil aged 102! This summer, one person raising money for the Hospice raised £11,500.
The Drop
Our latest adrenaline challenge, The Drop has become a new way for people to raise money by facing their fears. It opened last summer and has proved popular with charity days and people taking on their own sponsorship challenges.
Charity partners
We also have two charity partners that we support and work alongside. Pompey in the community are our local charity that we support and they harness the motivational power of Portsmouth Football Club to promote sporting participation, education, healthy living and achievements among people of all ages in the city.
As part of Continuum Attractions, we also support the charity, Plastic Oceans in our quest to become more sustainable.
