County council leader Liz Leffman has decided to swap her day job for abseiling down an Oxford hospital on one day this month.

Ms Leffman is normally seen by members of the public in county hall or delivering election leaflets on the doorstep but this month she has decided to try out abseiling to raise money for charity.

My Vision Oxfordshire is the charity which has been chosen by Ms Leffman and she said the cause was very close to her heart as her father was blind.

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Oxford Mail: The council leader will abseil down the side of the maternity ward at the hospitalThe council leader will abseil down the side of the maternity ward at the hospital (Image: Simon Pizzey)

The charity supports blind and visually impaired adults and children in Oxfordshire.

The council leader will be abseiling down the John Radcliffe Hospital alongside other visually impaired members.

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Ms Leffman told the Oxford Mail: “My family has had a history of impaired eyesight and I’m extremely short sighted myself, so it is very important to me to support people who have sight impairment.”

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Ms Leffman aims to raise £500 for the charity and on Wednesday her Just Giving Page had raised £400.

Oxford Mail: County council leader Liz LeffmanCounty council leader Liz Leffman

When asked whether she felt nervous about the prospect of abseiling down the maternity unit of the John Radcliffe Hospital, she said: “I did go abseiling many years ago when I was much younger but I’m not afraid of heights and I’m quite excited about the prospect of doing it.”

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The abseiling will take place across June 10 and 11.

More than two million people in the UK are living with sight loss and around 24,000 people in Oxfordshire are part of that statistic.

The charity’s volunteers previously abseiled down John Radcliffe Hospital in 2019 and raised over £7,000.

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He joined in the team in February 2023, after completing a History undergraduate degree at the University of York and studying for his NCTJ diploma in London.

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