Candy & Chrome Charity abseil for Wrexham Special Care Baby Unit.

On 26th June 2011 Amy Butterworth aka Tiny took a selection of Candy and Chrome pole dancing students on a 150 foot abseil down the aptly named Devil's Gorge.

We spoke to Tiny to find out what on earth possessed her and her students to throw themselves down a solid stone cliff face!

Why did you decide to do the abseil?

The big cheeses in charge of budgeting at Wrexham Maelor have been threatening to close the SCBU unit at Wrexham unless it can generate enough cash to sustain itself...which it can't.  The Special Care Baby Unit is worth saving because without it, poorly babies and their families are the ones who will suffer.

My baby girl was born into Wrexham SCBU and having witnessed first hand how dedicated the staff are and the incredible work they do, it gives me motivation to do crazy things for money to help keep them in their jobs, saving beautiful kids like mine, and Peter McFarren - heroic brother to one of our dancers who gave his life for our country.

So I try to do something for our charity every year and to be honest we have done a lot of pole related stuff before and we fancied doing something totally different for a change.

Who took part in the abseil?

Myself and 8 of my students.

Do you think the pole dancing fitness of you and your students helped you all to do the abseil?

Yes certainly - The girls demonstrated a lot of guts - most of which probably wouldn't have had the confidence to attempt something like this on their own and not in the safety of a supportive group of people they know, also I think their upper body strength gained from pole was an advantage on the day.

For me personally, there's not a chance in hell that I would have attempted an 80ft rope invert without being confident that I could already do it, just in different surroundings!

We see there was a specific dress code for the abseil?

Yes because we are from Candy and Chrome we will did the abseil in style wearing hotpants, fishnet tights, sequinned body suits, feather boa's and a cheeky wink! Basically we are all mentalists who are up for a laugh!

Tell us a bit more about your chosen charity?

Well it was all for the Special Care Baby units in our local hospitals.  My baby girl was born into the Wrexham SCBU and it has recently been published that budgeting cuts means the unit has been scheduled for closure which is devastating to hear after the way they took care of Millie AND myself!  Also, Wrexham SCBU is the only Welsh scbu unit for miles, so anyone else in the area in the same position may not have the choice but to travel a long distance to the North West of England to have their premature gems - meaning babies would be born English out of necessity!

How much did you raise?

So far over £1200, and still collecting!

Can people still donate?

Yes - just use the following link to donate money to via our justgiving page.

Would you do it again?

Oh definitely! Only next time I might seek some corde lisse tuition and do something a bit more fancy whilst I'm up there! On this occasion it was a spur of the moment decision to do it so if I do it again I will plan that part better!

Do you have any further fund-raising plans?

I do plan to make an annual event of it but next time it may be something different again.

Check out the videos of the abseil including the faceplants!

The Briefing
The Abseil (inc air invert)
The Faceplants!

Well done to all those who took part and helped to raise money for such a worthy charity! Thanks also to Tiny for taking time out to speak to us.