Boy to 'scale The Shard' for autism awareness

4 hours ago

Ian Spenceand

Daisy Bodkin,Gloucestershire

Five-year-old Albie is raising money for the National Autistic Society

BBC A young boy in a blue top and blue headphones attached to a climbing rope. His mum is on the left of him and is wearing a grey jumper and blue jeans. She is wearing glasses. His dad is on the right and is wearing a dark grey jumper with beige trousers. He has a dark brown beard. The three of them are hugging and smiling, sat against a green climbing wall. — Five-year-old Albie is raising money for the National Autistic Society

A five-year-old boy wants to climb the equivalent of the height of The Shard skyscraper to raise money and awareness for autism.

Albie, from Charlton Kings in Cheltenham, is autistic and has a speech delay. He is aiming to scale the wall at 270 Climbing Park in Gloucestershire about 34 times during April, which is Autism Awareness Month.

He is raising money for the National Autistic Society and has already passed his original £500 target, with £1,300 raised so far.

Albie's mum, Corrie, said climbing was hugely beneficial for her son. "It's his happy place. It's where he feels confident, he feels seen and he doesn't have to be anyone other than himself," she said.

The Shard skyscraper opened in London in 2012 and is 310m (1,016ft) tall, making it one of the tallest buildings in Europe.

Albie's dad Zach said climbing had boosted his son's confidence in social settings.

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He said Albie previously struggled to make "meaningful connections" but since taking climbing up he had formed strong bonds with staff members at the centre.

"That's wonderful to see as a parent, because one of your biggest fears is that people will feel alienated or isolated from their community," Zach said.

"This place has done wonders for him," he added.

Albie's mum said climbing was her son's "happy place"

A young boy in a blue top, black shorts and black shoes. He is attached to a rope and is about to start climbing up a climbing wall. There are two green signs either side which say '270 climbing'. He is stood on a red sign saying 'caution climber above'. — Albie's mum said climbing was her son's "happy place"

270 Climbing, which opened near Gloucester last year, is currently the UK's tallest outdoor climbing wall and is used by Team GB athletes.

The centre's CEO, Andrew Glassford, described climbing as an "incredibly inclusive sport".

"You see people come and find their happy place here," he said. "There's a wide variety of people, and to see the difference it makes to people's lives is absolutely amazing," he added.

The centre is launching a NICAS Ascend programme, a national adaptive climbing award scheme created by the National Indoor Climbing Award Schemes (NICAS).

The programme, tailored towards climbers with additional needs, is being piloted with independent charity Active Gloucestershire later this month.

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