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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/sep/17/middlesbrough-newport-transporter-bridge-charity-fund-raising-terry-scott
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| Version 3 | Version 4 |
|---|---|
| Charity abseiler picks the wrong Transporter Bridge | Charity abseiler picks the wrong Transporter Bridge |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| Rachel Cook berated herself as a 'right plonker' when she got the details for a charity fund-raising abseil which she'd planned for many months. | Rachel Cook berated herself as a 'right plonker' when she got the details for a charity fund-raising abseil which she'd planned for many months. |
| The shopworker from New Marske on Teesside had long harboured the notion of sliding down from the famous transporter bridge in Middlesbrough, one of the town's most interesting features. | The shopworker from New Marske on Teesside had long harboured the notion of sliding down from the famous transporter bridge in Middlesbrough, one of the town's most interesting features. |
| Googling 'abseil, charity and transporter bridge', she came up with the familiar image of the bridge type, which uses powerful electric motors to haul a suspended gondola across the Tees. The crossing, taking up to 200 people and nine cars over the river in 90 seconds, was invented locally by Charles Smith of Hartlepool, although it took 37 years before Teesside took up his notion, long after Portugal, France, the United States and Germany had given Smith's idea successful goes. | Googling 'abseil, charity and transporter bridge', she came up with the familiar image of the bridge type, which uses powerful electric motors to haul a suspended gondola across the Tees. The crossing, taking up to 200 people and nine cars over the river in 90 seconds, was invented locally by Charles Smith of Hartlepool, although it took 37 years before Teesside took up his notion, long after Portugal, France, the United States and Germany had given Smith's idea successful goes. |
| Another town in the UK also beat the home team: Newport in south Wales; and it was this which accounted for Mrs Cook's gulp. Unaware of the existence of the Newport bridge, which is almost identical in appearance to Middlesbrough's (although it's actually slightly bigger), she found belatedly that she had agreed to abseil off the wrong one. | Another town in the UK also beat the home team: Newport in south Wales; and it was this which accounted for Mrs Cook's gulp. Unaware of the existence of the Newport bridge, which is almost identical in appearance to Middlesbrough's (although it's actually slightly bigger), she found belatedly that she had agreed to abseil off the wrong one. |
| A good and cheerful sort, she went ahead at the weekend anyway, travelling 222 miles (instead of the 11 to Middlesbrough) to spend an hour descending carefully from the Welsh bridge. She joined many other fund-raising abseilers to honour her £200 in pledges for St David's Hospice Foundation Care, whose website had offered her the abseil in the first instance. | A good and cheerful sort, she went ahead at the weekend anyway, travelling 222 miles (instead of the 11 to Middlesbrough) to spend an hour descending carefully from the Welsh bridge. She joined many other fund-raising abseilers to honour her £200 in pledges for St David's Hospice Foundation Care, whose website had offered her the abseil in the first instance. |
| Cook, who is 28 and had a support party in the form of her husband Nik and daughters Abigial, seven, and Lily, two, says that she had made the commitment and in spite of the all day round-trip, couldn't have backed out. She says: | Cook, who is 28 and had a support party in the form of her husband Nik and daughters Abigial, seven, and Lily, two, says that she had made the commitment and in spite of the all day round-trip, couldn't have backed out. She says: |
| I have made a right plonker of myself, but I have done my bit in a few newspapers publicising the charity. The work it does is really worthwhile. The abseil went really well. Once I'd done it, I was like: 'Yes, let's do it again'. | I have made a right plonker of myself, but I have done my bit in a few newspapers publicising the charity. The work it does is really worthwhile. The abseil went really well. Once I'd done it, I was like: 'Yes, let's do it again'. |
Her mistake now joins other mishaps from the history of the Middlesbrough transporter, including a wartime bomb which left the gondola and its passenger safe but stuck, and the hair-raising error in 1974 by comedian Terry Scott who drove off the end on his way from his Middlesbrough hotel to the Forum theatre in Billingham. | Her mistake now joins other mishaps from the history of the Middlesbrough transporter, including a wartime bomb which left the gondola and its passenger safe but stuck, and the hair-raising error in 1974 by comedian Terry Scott who drove off the end on his way from his Middlesbrough hotel to the Forum theatre in Billingham. |
| He had assumed that the bridge was an ordinary crossing; safety nets luckily turned a potential disaster into a kind-of gag. In the same way, Rachel Cook's plonkering significantly raised the profile of the Newport abseil. If you want to add to the tally, the hospice foundation website is here. | He had assumed that the bridge was an ordinary crossing; safety nets luckily turned a potential disaster into a kind-of gag. In the same way, Rachel Cook's plonkering significantly raised the profile of the Newport abseil. If you want to add to the tally, the hospice foundation website is here. |
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