Tommy MacGregor vividly remembers the time he tried to climb a tower at the Landmark Forest Adventure Park in Carrbridge.
He was there with his niece, who wanted Tommy to wave to her from the top.
But the tower had those steps that are more like slats and he could see clear daylight through them.
For someone like Tommy, who has a huge fear of heights, it was too much.
“I got so far, then I had to come back down,” Tommy says. “I had to fess up that I couldn’t do it.”
Which makes it all the more remarkable that on Saturday Tommy will of his own volition climb to the top of the 131-foot tower at King’s Church in Bridge of Don and willingly — he hopes — hop over the side and abseil down to the bottom.
By facing his fears, Tommy, 46, hopes to raise money for Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus (SBH) Scotland, the only charity in Scotland dedicated to people with spina bifida and hydrocephalus.
Tommy has spina bifida himself, as well as hydrocephalus — the water build-up on the brain that is a result of his condition.
More pertinently, considering the leap of faith he is about to commit to, the Dingwall native is also a trainee minister with the Church of Scotland in Inverness.
“Trainee minister chucks himself of a church tower,” Tommy laughs. “How ironic is that?”
Tommy’s refusal to set limits on his ability
Over the past few years, the tower at Kings Church, which was previously the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC), has become a popular place to do a charity abseil.
Last September, 96 brave volunteers zipped down the tower to raise funds for the Archie Foundation.
For Tommy, however, the abseil will do more than raise money for a favoured cause; it will continue his refusal to allow his condition to limit him.
He describes his own spina bifida as mild compared to others — he has some balance issues but can walk.
But though his hydrocephalus has impacted his memory and made school at Dingwall Academy a struggle for him, he has since gone on to university to attain several degrees.
He has also had a successful career in the NHS’s educational arm, travelling the country as a dental trainer among other things.
“I’ve always challenged myself,” he says. “I’ve always tried to do different things and achieve different things.
“But it has also come from my family and from my church, and it’s back to my faith as well. That’s been really important.”
Tommy first thought about becoming an ordained Church of Scotland minister 20 years ago but says he lacked the confidence to go for it.
That changed through his NHS career as he gained belief in speaking to people and realised that he had it in him after all.
He is currently completing his probation period at Kinmylies church in Inverness.
He sees obvious parallels in his growing confidence with this weekend’s abseil. Would he have attempted it 20 years ago?
“Absolutely not,” he says. “I might have been tempted by it, but I certainly wouldn’t have done it.”
That said, there is a line Tommy won’t cross. He heard some people might be doing the abseil headfirst.
“That won’t be me,” he says firmly.
To donate to Tommy’s challenge, click here.
