Why, I’d jump off a bridge for Cyrenians - Ewan Aitken

Ewan Aitken, CEO Cyrenians Scotland

​Last week was my 10th anniversary since joining Cyrenians. I am not sure why anniversaries with a zero seem more important than any other year, yet it feels significant.

It is the longest I have ever spent in one job. During my forty-plus years career I’ve usually been a moving target.This suggests leading Cyrenians is something special, at least for me.

I mentioned this to a couple of colleagues, as I felt I wanted to mark the anniversary in some way.

The message was quickly relayed to my fundraising colleagues who rapidly made sure I knew they were looking for “volunteers” to abseil off the Forth Rail Bridge to raise cash for our work.

Ewan Aitken is to abseil off the Forth Rail Bridge to raise cash for Cyrenians

As a proud Cyrenian, I couldn’t say no to marking the occasion so momentously!

There are easier ways to mark this moment in my career, of course, but raising vital funds for the people Cyrenians supports is undoubtedly the most fitting. If you’d like to see me fall off a bridge you can support me at JustGiving online fundraising donations.

I am particularly keen to play my part this year because of the statistic I heard this week - 59 people were counted rough sleeping in Edinburgh last week and that’s just the people we know about.

The numbers presenting at the Welcome Hub, which provides emergency accommodation, are hitting record highs and a rising number of those are people accessing homelessness services for the first time.

We as voters need to create the space for long term political decision-making.

The solutions to those statistics I quoted lie in long term prevention; stopping the crisis before it happens by lifting people out of poverty and making sure they have the support and skills they need to flourish as we would want to flourish.

The idea that these issues can be sorted in one political cycle is madness.

Alongside brave colleagues and supporters, I’ll physically be walking (jumping!) the walk off the face of Scotland’s iconic bridge to tackle homelessness.

My hope is that our politics can be as methodical and considered as my descent from the Forth Rail Bridge surely will be…