And it works. After last week's Fright Night with Derek Acorah, they somehow talked Borderers into jumping off the Penielheugh Monument, near Jedburgh. And they seemed to enjoy it.

This was the biggest, longest, scariest zip slide held in the region, at 150ft high and 1,000ft long. Safely installing the cables and ropes in the ancient edifice was a feat of mechanical brilliance. Ensuring everyone was able to jump on what was a pleasant but incredibly windy day was just as impressive logistically.

But getting harnesses to fit snugly when 20 of the fund-raisers were wearing kilts was sheer genius.

Steve Mellor, 'captain' of the tartan-adorned squad named the Borders Barmy Army – which as a group raised more than £2,500 – was waiting to jump when TheSouthern asked him what on earth made him want to do this.

He said: "I saw the advert for it and thought 'what the hell, let's jump off a 150ft tower in high winds.

"It looks rather frightening – and good fun."

Allan Johnstone, regional manager for the Anthony Nolan Trust, was delighted.

He said: "It's going really well, there is a fantastic bunch of people up here.

"A lot of money has been raised – I spoke to one person who has raised more than £1,400, which is absolutely amazing.

"The zip slide is looking quite spectacular. It's very fast and everybody is coming back with a smile on their face, they had a great time.

"Looking at the pledges today, I think we are looking at a minimum of £15,000, which is fantastic.

"Added to the £18,000 from last week's Fright Night with Derek Acorah, it's not been a bad couple of weeks at all for the charity.

"Of course, all that money will be put used to recruit many more donors on the bone marrow register and hopefully we will save a few lives."

If you want to help raise funds for the Anthony Nolan Trust, you could enter any of their activities they have running throughout the year.

For most of them, though, you will need more than a smattering of courage. They include a 10,000ft freefall parachute jump and swimming with sharks.

Go to www.anthonynolan.org.uk for further details.