A host of angelic volunteers from Guildford Town Centre Chaplaincy, spent their Saturday morning ascending & descending the bell tower multiple times at Guildford Cathedral on 11 May to raise funds for their Street Angel, Community Angel and Volunteer Chaplains projects. The 42 Angels in the team celebrated Surrey Day by literally “reaching for the skies” by organising an imaginative fundraising event – the team ascended and descended the Cathedral tower to clock up a staggering collective total of 80,946 steps in just 3 hours, raising a superb £10,500 to help fund their work. This beat their target of 75,000 steps, a figure that represented the number of people that the Chaplaincy has helped over its lifetime since it was established in 2008.
Noelle Coe, Town Chaplain, said “I really want to sincerely thank the widespread support from far and wide, we are overwhelmed with the generosity of the whole community.”
Noelle continued “We were so delighted to be joined by community leaders, including the Mayor of Guildford, Cllr Sallie Barker (taking part as one of her first public duties since her election), Angela Richardson MP, Peter Rudkin from Guildford Philanthropy, Liam White VP Support from the University of Surrey Students Union, and many others, including staff, Trustees, and volunteers from the Charity. We had great fun, but multiple climbs of the 249 steps to the top of the tower (equivalent to 16 storeys) was quite a challenge to quite a few of us who are not as young as we used to be! The Ascenders, between the age of 11 and 74 years, were rewarded with the best view in Surrey from their vantage point, an experience normally reserved for the Cathedral’s iconic golden angel and paying visitors to the tower. We are especially grateful to the Cathedral team for their warm hospitality”
“The Chaplaincy continues to serve the people of the town by providing a listening ear and practical support to those who become vulnerable in our town. We are recruiting new volunteers to our Street Angel, Community Angel and Volunteer Chaplains projects so we would love to hear from anyone who wants to find out more, please explore our website to find out more and take a look at our Annual Review 2023 available here https://gtcc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/GTCC-Annual-Review-2023-16.pdf
