£30,000 raised for Derbyshire's air ambulance

More than £30,000 has been raised for a lifesaving organisation thanks to the hard work of volunteers throughout the county.

Street collections were held for Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance (DLRAA), during which supporters handed out the charity’s special yellow cross pin badges in exchange for donations. The response from the public was incredible – beating the amount raised in last year’s campaign by £5,000.

In Derbyshire, kind-hearted supporters donated a whopping £8,736 – the biggest amount raised in any of the counties covered by the local air ambulance.

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Collette Richardson, fundraising manager for DLRAA, said: ‘’The generosity of people was fantastic and the response we got on the streets from the public was amazing.

‘’’I would also like to thank all the volunteers who gave up their time to help with the collections. We couldn’t have done it without them.

‘’It was only the second year the campaign has been organised but it is going from strength to strength and will continue to develop each year.’’.

The total amount raised - £30,460 - will go towards DLRAA and its sister service the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance (WNAA).

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The charity needs to raise an average of £1,700 for each of its lifesaving missions. In June the air ambulance flew its 25,000th mission.

Volunteers answered a plea for people to come forward to help with the collections, which took place as part of Air Ambulance Week - from September 17 to September 25 - designed to raise awareness about the charity and the work it does.

DLRAA is part of The Air Ambulance Service (TAAS), which receives no Government funding for the lifesaving and vital work it does.

TAAS routinely carries senior doctors and consultants on board, in essence taking the hospital to the patient and allowing them to provide advanced treatment on scene.

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TAAS’s state-of-the-art AgustaWestland 109 helicopters have a top speed of 185mph and are the fastest civilian helicopters available.

DLRAA work together on collaborative operations with WNAA at major trauma scenes and between them they carry out 1,800 rescues a year.

For more information on The Air Ambulance Service, including how to make a donation, visit the charity’s website theairambulanceservice.org.uk