PENSIONER Adriana Young took a moment to enjoy the view before she descended 100ft down Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital.

The 89-year-old was raising cash for the hospital’s heart unit yesterday with friend Jenny Atkinson, 80.

The Italian-born pensioner, who has lived in Woodstock for nearly 60 years, has now raised more than £750 for the unit after signing up to do the charity abseil in memory of her husband Roy, who died during an operation in 1975. When asked if she had been scared before the challenge, she said: “Not a bit. If I could have done it again I would have done it.”

She said her bad knee caused her to slip at the top, adding: “Everybody down below thought I was going to fall.”

Abseils take place at the JR every year to raise cash for various hospital causes.

The hospital’s next abseil events areon June 15 and September 21. For information visit hospitalcharity.co.uk/abseils, email charity@ouh.nhs.uk, or call 01865 743444.

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