Childline Charity Spooky Sleepover Event 4th November 2005 at the Williamson Tunnels

Childline North West Website         Williamson Tunnels Website

Earlier this year, MARA were delighted to be asked to help out in a spooky event for Childline North West; a sponsored Spooky  Sleepover. During the course of four months, MARA Coordinator Mike Jaega liaised with Childline Official Karen Swale in order to plan the event with meticulous precision. However, things didn’t go totally to plan, as a cellar fire in the original venue, 48 hours before the event was due to take place, caused the event to be postponed until an alternative venue could be found. Upon an excellent suggestion by MARA member Eileen Shaw, an alternative venue was soon secured: the enigmatic Williamson Tunnels at Brownlow Hill, Liverpool, UK

Since this was our first involvement in a charity event, we were quite excited at the prospect of using our skills and knowledge to help raise (hopefully) a lot of money for a very worthwhile charity. 

Our task for the evening was to represent the scientific side of Paranormal Investigations, showing the sponsored guests how we work as a group and presenting our findings based on almost 10 years of science based paranormal investigation and research.

On the night, MARA started off the proceedings with two presentations on the allegedly haunted Chingle Hall, ably delivered by Peter Tiernan, Rob Bethell and Mark Rosney. Peter concentrated on the History of the hall, illustrating his talk with photographic evidence and classic sound recordings from the Hall, including the infamous Chingle scream.

Rob and Mark related their first hand experiences of things that happened to them and the team during their many visits to the hall, culminating in a review of the groups own spooky recordings from the hall. Both presentations were well received.

 

Talks given at the event                                       The MARA crew relax in the tunnels

Next, a Spooky quiz was held. Team MARA demonstrated their in depth knowledge of all things spooky and won the quiz hands down. Shortly afterwards, the team made short work of the prize, a tin of celebrations chocolates. Several pounds were gained by all!

After a short break, it was time for the invited psychics to demonstrate their skills, while MARA members prepared for their group ‘show and tell’ sessions.

Unfortunately, due to the inescapable laws of physics, the wireless camera that we installed in the tunnel entrance failed to work, as the thickness of the natural stone walls prevented the signals being transmitted from the camera to the base station. However, totally undaunted by this, Peter and Rob gave a more in depth description of how we go about our investigations/research to a very keen audience, showing off other bits of kit that we use in our work. This was well received by all, and Peter and Rob were kept busy with countless questions! 
 

Technical equipment problem?                       MARA members with Karen Swale (centre)

The rest of the team were on hand throughout the night to field questions and represent all aspects of the group’s research which, to a person, they did extremely well. 

Alan Houghton did a Stirling job all evening making a video record of the whole night for the MARA archives, and even arranged to do an impromptu tribute to Alfred Hitchcock by appearing as a cameo in his own film! Well done Alan!

As the night progressed all team members showed their worth by participating fully and ensuring that the whole night was an outstanding success. It is times like these that MARA show their true worth by acting as a very professional unit in a very professional manner throughout. All in all, a very successful evening all round. 

Most importantly, the guests at the event are estimated to have made in excess of £6000 in sponsorship money for Childline.  MARA congratulate the guests and Karen Swale on this extremely successful event.