Wiltshire Air Ambulance Appeal

The Wiltshire Air Ambulance is a unique service being one of only two air ambulances in the country which work as a joint project with the local police.

The Air Ambulance Appeal is entirely dependent upon public support to raise the £500,000 a year to keep the service flying. This is only a third of the running costs of the helicopter. The remaining two thirds are funded by the police who use it for various incidents.       
             
The Wiltshire Air Ambulance is not government funded, nor does it qualify for National Lottery Funding. It is purely down to the goodwill of the people of Wiltshire who have kept the helicopter flying for these past years.

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.
                
Your help in securing the future of the Wiltshire Air Ambulance is important to us, so if you would like to make a donation, or organise a fundraising event or perhaps consider leaving a gift in your Will, all the information you need is available within our website, or, alternatively please contact the Appeal Office on 0845 122 1423 or email them.

For many years the club had got involved in fund raising events, but these were infrequent and often were associated with motorsport related charities.

When the Club changed its name to the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club it was proposed that the Club should formally adopt a charity to raise funds for. This proposal was agreed by the Committee and Martin Emsley volunteered to be the Charity Co-ordinator for the Committee.

It was also agreed that we should not adopt a motorsport related charity, but instead the charity would be one which would be recognised within the wider community. So it was that St Peter’s Hospice in Bristol became the first adopted charity in 2001.

Martin’s first call came for people to empty their garages and spare rooms of those unwanted motoring items. These were then assembled on the charity table at Club Nights and people were asked to make donations for any items that they wanted.

The club track day at Castle Combe was to be the next event where funds could be raised. As well as having the charity table, a raffle was held and it was decided that the club would make a donation for every member that turned up with their car. Local motorsport artist, Craig Warwick, heard about our efforts and donated some prints and posters. Some of these excellent prints were then auctioned by the club to raise funds and others would be used as prizes for another raffle to be held at the AGM.

Other people have made donations to the club and where it was thought appropriate these have been put on ebay to raise funds. One of our guest speakers at a club night was Pauline Gullick who told us of her rallying exploits from the co-drivers seat. Pauline learned of our efforts to raise funds for charity and later that year she was at the Race of Champions event, she got Organiser, Michelle Mouton, to autograph a T-shirt for us. The shirt was one of the items that went on ebay.

Another item that went onto ebay was an Opel Manta. The car belonged to club member John Wookey who regrettably lost his life to Cancer. His widow Jennifer came to the club stand at the Frenchay Show and offered us John’s recently bought and hardly used helmet and racing suit for someone in the club to make use of. John Corfield said that we would sell them and the money would go to the club charity and so we were also offered John’s Sprint and Track Day car. John and Martin Emsley collected the car and got into a running condition so that it could be sold on ebay.

The internet has also been put to use in raising funds by making a link from the club website to Amazon. Any items that are purchased on Amazon by going through the club site, we receive a percentage of the purchase price. This is then donated to the adopted charity.

Other donations have included Club Vice-President Bob Hart offer of flights in a light aircraft. Club members Martin Emsley, Gerry Bath and Kieron Winter all enjoyed a flight with Bob on the 100th Anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight in December 2003.

2005 saw the organisation of the first charity Karting Evening. This was organised by Ken Robson at The Raceway - Avonmouth. The Raceway gave us a reduced price for the evening and Ken sold Karts for teams of five people. With all the places sold to other local motor clubs and organisations, a sizeable sum of money was able to be raised for the adopted charity.

2005 also saw the 60th Anniversary event of the Club held at the Castle Combe track day. The club has been lucky over the years to have Arthur Tankins record club events on his 8mm Cine Camera. For the 60th Anniversary, Andy Moss put a selection of these films onto a DVD and these were sold to members and guests with the proceeds going to the adopted charity.

The raffle at the Track Day has now become a regular feature and thanks go to Tim Murray and Donny Allen for the work they have done in selling tickets and Charlie Emsley has now become a regular ticket seller for the AGM raffle. The AGM raffle has now grown with prizes donated by Companies and members and has now been supplemented with an auction for the more valuable donations. In 2006 this included Karting Grand Prix tickets, Motorsport Gift Vouchers and a Track Day.

In the first five years of adopting St Peter’s Hospice, the Club has raised over £6500.

It was decided that for 2007 a new Charity would be adopted for the Club and this was Diabetes UK. This charity supports people who currently suffer from this disease, as well as funding research that hopefully one day will lead to a cure. We succeeded in raising approx. £2,000 in both 2007 & 2008, a terrific effort.

Following the tragic events of May 2008 when we sadly lost our Chairman; Kieron Winter whilst marshalling at the Colerne Sprint, an event which affected every member of the club a review was undertaken It was agreed that we support, from 2009, the Wiltshire Air Ambulance who attended, treated and transported Kieron to hospital. We are hoping for a long and successful association, as previously your support is much appreciated for this worthy charity.

The Club would like to thank the following Individuals, Organisations and Companies for their support of the Club’s Adopted Charity work:

Martin Emsley
Ken Robson
Bob Hart

Pauline Gullick
David Franklin

Craig Warwick – Motorsport Artist
Motaman
Brights Autoparts – Filton Avenue
Amazon.co.uk
The Raceway – Avonmouth
Castle Combe Circuit
Merlin Motorsport -Castle Combe
Land Rover Experience - Exeter
Motorsport Events
Track Developments
The Wheatsheaf - Winterbourne