Issue 494 – £15,000 cheque for Air Ambulance

WESTBURY’S Air Ambulance shop continues to thrive, thanks to the support of local people. As a testimony to this it has just handed over a cheque to the air ambulance for £15,000 – raised in just three months.

Dot Whitehead, manager of the Westbury shop, explained, “It’s the money we’ve raised since we had the shop refurbished. A big thank you goes to staff, customers, and donations. We need all the support we can get to keep going, so please keep donating!”
The Maristow Street charity shop has raised over £1.5million for the appeal since it opened 14 years ago. Dot was invited to the Queen’s Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace last month in recognition of the shop’s success.
In April, Westbury Rotarians stepped forward to refurbish the premises. The shop is now more important than ever, given the Devizes store closed earlier this year, leaving the Westbury store as the appeal’s only outlet.
The Wiltshire Air Ambulance needs to raise £1,917 per day to keep the helicopter flying. Over the years the crews have attended thousands of incidents. Sadly almost half the incidents are road traffic accidents, but it also gets called out to horse riding and sports injuries, industrial and farm accidents, fires and medical emergencies.
The helicopter, a MD 902 Explorer, always flies with a crew of three which includes the pilot, the police observer and the paramedic. You can find out more about the air ambulance at www.wiltshireairambulance.co.uk