THEY went up tiddlee up, up, and down, tiddlee down .. and they enchanted enough people to raise £15,000 for charity.
But these magnificent men – and women – weren’t in their flying machines. They were strapped to the wings instead. They were all frightfully keen, and didn’t think of danger, they didn’t really care … just the money they were raising instead.
Fourteen thrill-seekers from across the property industry joined forces to take on the Hat and Home Wing-Walk Challenge to raise funds for Parkinson’s UK.
Organised by Ben Gee, founder of Hat and Home estate agency, which launched in Wokingham, the aerobatic undraiser took place at AeroSuperBatics in Cirencester, a Wing-Walk specialist airfield.
Participants strapped themselves to a 1942 bi-plane and travelled at 140mph at just 800ft for a thrilling experience.
“It’s fantastic to work in collaboration with so many people from our sector, proving once again how generous and compassionate the property industry is, Mr Gee said.
Parkinson’s affects more than 153,000 people in the UK, including Mr Gee.
Four years ago, when he was 41, he received a diagnosis for the disease, and has since raised nearly £100,000 towards finding a cure and helping people who already have the condition.
For the wing walk, he was joined by adrenaline junkies from Reapit (Harriet Jordan, Shaun Crowe and Carly Sullivan), Savills (Tom Waltham), Footprints powered by ExP (Scott Gunn), ExP (Alex Pelosi Buchanan), Lynne Bird (Churchill Retirement Living), Myles White (Crux Careers) as well as Paul Price, Dylan Jay and Jack Farnon from Hat and Home.
Louise Brown and Beth Lucey joined the crew from outside the industry.
“The airfield is within the market which I trade and it was great to see the geography from a different perspective. To raise funds for such an important cause in this way is brillian,” said Savills’ Mr Waltham.
“I was pretty nervous but once I got in the air it was an amazing experience, although I’m not sure I’ll do it again in a hurry, said Ms Jordan from Reapit.
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And Mr White of Crux Careers said “ I had an amazing day raising funds for this amazing charity and it’s a pleasure to get involved. Crux Careers are fully supportive of Hat and Home’s campaign and I can’t wait for the next event.”
Hat and Home have recently launched The Parkinson’s Promise; an industry-wide initiative to promote transactional giving across the sector.
For more information contact Ben Gee on [email protected]
