Young fundraiser’s quayside ambition
BOY HOPES TO ABSEIL FROM TYNE BRIDGE IN LOVED ONES’ MEMORY
Reporter A HEROIC young fundraiser who has raised thousands of pounds for charity wants to fulfil a daring dream to honour the loved ones he’s lost.
Brave Harry Steel, 11, from Wallsend, lost both his father and his uncle within a few years of each other.
Since then, he’s thrown himself into charity work, raising cash for heart charity CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young), which raises awareness of hidden heart conditions like the one which killed his uncle, David White, and also helps the Maggie’s Centre, at the Freeman Hospital, which supported his dad, Stephen, as he fought a deadly and fast-moving cancer.
Harry’s taken part in sponsored walks and climbs, and completed all sorts of weird and wacky events. But he has one fundraising dream which he hasn’t yet been able to achieve.
Harry wants to raise more cash and pay tribute to his dad and uncle with an abseil off the Tyne Bridge.
The daring event would be extraspecial, because it would take place somewhere that both of them loved.
But despite scouring the internet and ringing as many companies as he could find, he’s been unable to find anyone who can arrange it.
Mum Lisa Steel reached out to us to appeal for any company or organisation who might be planning an event of this kind to get in touch with her, to see if they can help Harry. Lisa said: “He’s had his heart set on abseiling from the Tyne Bridge for a while now, but we can’t find a way to do it.
“He’s always coming out with random ideas and ways to raise money, he’s sat in baths of beans, he’s climbed the O2 in London, but this would be really special.
“His dad and uncle both loved the area, and it would just be so much more special to do an event looking Stephen Steel out over the Quayside where he knows they’ve been. “My brother was a keen photographer and he used to get up really early to photograph the bridges, so it would be nice to think of him in a place he always enjoyed. I just wondered if there was anyone out there who could help us.” Young Harry has raised around £6,000 for his chosen charities over the past few years, and received a number of honours for his work, including a prize at our Pride of the North East awards. But his proud mum says the youngster is very modest about his achievements. She said: “He doesn’t think it’s a big deal – he wonders what all the fuss is about. I’m very proud, and not just because of the fundraising. He could save lives with just the awareness he’s raising alone, he’s getting the awareness of these conditions out there.” If you might be able to help Harry complete his challenge, email hannah.graham@trinitymirror.com