Bishop and his secretary take up abseiling
Early last Saturday morning Bishop Harold, and his secretary Margaret Wilson, launched themselves from the top of the Europa Hotel in Belfast. It was all for a good reason - the Bishop and his secretary were part of a team prepared to risk life and limb in doing a sponsored abseil down the famous landmark building to raise funds for the Church of Ireland Student's Centre at Queen's University, Belfast.
Bishop Harold is a past chaplain of QUB and Margaret juggles a morning job at the Centre with her secretarial duties for the Bishop at Church House in the afternoons. Amongst the others taking part in the abseil were the Revd David McClay, rector of Willowfield; the Revd Andrew Foster, rector of Drumglass (Dungannon) and also a former QUB chaplain; the Venerable Stephen McBride, Archdeacon of Connor; and the Revd Paddy McGlinchey, present chaplain of QUB.
The sponsored abseil fundraiser was organised to raise some money for the extensive refurbishment programme involving the Church of the Resurrection, Oasis Café and the Student's Centre. The team is hopeful of raising a total of £6,000 from their sponsorship.
The 4-star Europa Hotel was the choice of the former US President Bill Clinton during his visits to Belfast in 1995 and 1998 and is a popular location for fundraising abseils. During the ‘troubles' the Europa had the reputation of being the most bombed hotel in Europe.