General

Members of a metal detecting society have donated funds to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Several members from the Bridlington Metal Detecting Society met up with Bob Smailes, Regional Fundraising Manager for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, to present a cheque for £350 towards the charity’s operating costs.

During the year the society have made two separate donations of £150 to St Catherine’s Hospice – a total of £650 raised for named charities this year.

The funds were raised by holding detecting rallies throughout the year along with Bridlington Quay Metal Detecting Society, and with kind permission of local farmers and landowners.

Pictured are the members of Bridlington Metal Detecting Society presenting a £350 cheque to Bob Smailes of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) is breaking new ground in the Air Ambulance industry having just become the first Air Ambulance in the UK to apply for and obtain their own Air Operators Certificate (AOC) from scratch.

The Yorkshire based charity, which owns and operates two MD 902 Explorers, learned last week that after nearly a year of hard work to produce and submit the complex application, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) have granted and approved the YAA to operate under their own AOC.

Bruce Burns, Vice-Chairman of the YAA commented “We are all so proud of this achievement! It has taken so much hard work by our team for us to be able to achieve our own AOC, in particular our Chief Pilot, Captain Andy Lister who alongside myself, as the Accountable Manager, compiled and coordinated the application.

This now means that we have complete autonomy over the operations of our two helicopters. Not only do we now own both of our aircraft, but we will control them directly too, without the need to operate under a third party AOC. This will provide significant benefits including more control over our maintenance and operational costs, which will be of great help to us over the coming years. The Charity took the decision to apply for its own AOC in 2011, after deciding it was the next step forward in the development of its operations.

Bruce continued “Although this is great news for the YAA, there is still a lot of hard work to be done to maintain our AOC. However, we have a great team around us at the YAA and I know they will work extremely hard to sustain all that has already been achieved.”

The granting of the AOC concludes what has been a busy year for the YAA operationally.

Earlier in year the YAA took up residency at a new base in North Yorkshire. Their helicopter G –CEMS now has a new home at RAF Topcliffe near Thirsk, and has been successfully operating from there since February.

Facilities at Topcliffe include hangar space for maintaining and housing the helicopter, dedicated crew accommodation, and office and training facilities.

There was also the exciting news that the Charity has been granted planning permission to develop a new air base and operating facilities for its other helicopter G-SASH. The new base will see the relocation from their existing premises at Leeds Bradford International Airport to purpose made facilities on the Nostell estate near Wakefield. Plans are now coming together to develop similar facilities at Nostell to those that are available at Topcliffe.

The icing on the cake for what has been a very busy 2012 for the YAA was the honour of the acceptance by HRH the Duke of York to become the charities Royal Patron.

A mother and daughter, whose car plunged into the Chelker Reservoir in May, have raised more than £3,000 for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Denise Hirst and Trudy Murgatroyd held a successful charity sale and auction in their home village of Draughton on Saturday 8th December.

Mrs Murgatroyd, now 89, was flown to hospital in Leeds by the Yorkshire Air Ambulance after their Land Rover car left the road and ended up in its side in the reservoir.

The sale and auction raised about £1,700, bringing Mrs Hirst and Mrs Murgatroyd’s current fundraising total for the charity to about £3,600.

A major donation to the auction late last week was a weekend’s loan of a top-of-the-range Mercedes Benz car.

Other lots also included cashmere goods and gift vouchers for restaurants, hair salons, florists and other businesses.

To make a donation,visit the website justgiving.com/Denise-Hirst.

More money raised for Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Town’s Academy in a busy day off the field!

Huddersfield Town used Saturday’s West Yorkshire derby against Leeds United to celebrate the success of the ‘Keep It Up’ campaign.

The award-winning fundraising initiative that raises money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and the Town Academy has already generated a staggering £720,000 since its inception in 2009, with a target of £1 million announced by the Club.

Saturday saw yet more money raised for ‘Keep It Up’, with Club Partner Kirklees College’s Principal Peter McCann and its Commercial Manager Jason Taylor presenting a cheque for £3,060 to the ‘Keep It Up’ campaign after fundraising efforts through their Kirklees Charity Gala and a rider on ‘Pedal for Pounds 3’. Yorkshire Air Ambulance’s Head of Fundraising Paul Gowland and Town’s Commercial Director Sean Jarvis accepted the money on behalf of the ‘Keep It Up’ campaign.

There were also bucket collectors from the Yorkshire Air Ambulance positioned around the ground on Saturday, with generous fans of Town and Leeds donating en mass to the campaign.

Fundraiser Alan Boothroyd joined HTAFC Commercial Director Sean Jarvis for a spot on BBC Radio Leeds pre-match, which was aired at half-time – Alan will run from Land’s End to John O’Groats in March 2013 in aid of the ‘Keep It Up’ campaign!

The amount raised at Kelbrook’s annual art exhibition has brushed aside efforts from previous years to be the most successful yet.

The three-day exhibition, held in August, raised £1,200 and the proceeds have been split equally, with half going to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and the remainder to fund ongoing work at Kelbrook Village Hall.

Over 300 pictures were submitted to the exhibition this year and 62 of those were sold to buyers from as far away as America and Ireland.

Funds were further boosted by the sale of homemade cakes and snacks, as well as a popular raffle which saw local artist Audrey Walker donate one of her water colour works.

Jackie Barker, chairman of the Kelbrook Art Exhibition, said: “It was a very successful event this year. “There’s no entrance fee so we can assume from the amount raised on the raffle that numbers were up. Hopefully, it will be all systems go for next year.”

Pictured is Martin Wilkinson (Kelbrook Art Exhibition Treasurer), Edna Atkinson (Catering), Tony Doveston (Yorkshire Air Ambulance), Mary Miller (Kelbrook Village Hall Secretary) and Jackie Barker (Chairman) at the presentation.

Eight year-old Junior Knight of Yorkshire Jack Fitt took a tour of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance’s air support unit at Leeds Bradford airport on Wednesday 24th October to see how some of the money he has raised for the ‘Keep It Up’ campaign in the last two seasons has been used.

Jack, who lives in Rastrick, was accompanied by Huddersfield Town Club Ambassador Andy Booth on his tour of the hangar where he also got to look around one of the charity’s lifesaving helicopters, G-SASH.

Last season Jack raised a huge £700 by cycling from Todmorden to Brighouse to benefit the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and the Huddersfield Town Academy.

Earlier this season he embarked on his second epic fundraising event; the ‘Bremner to Boothy’ walk, a 13 mile walk from Elland Road to the Stadium in Huddersfield.

Huddersfield Town’s Supporter Partnerships Manager Robyn Deegan praised Jack’s fundraising efforts over the last two seasons, commenting: “For eight year-old Jack to have raised over £1,500 for the ‘Keep It Up’ campaign over two events which he has organised and carried out himself is absolutely phenomenal.

“The money he has raised will go a long way towards keeping the Yorkshire Air Ambulance’s helicopters maintained and in the air, while at the same time it will help the Club’s Academy continue to develop during a very important period thanks to the implementation of the Elite Player Performance Plan.”

You can still sponsor Jack, visit his justgiving page:

http://www.justgiving.com/JackRockFitt2012

Ten year old schoolboy Willem Jefferson has doubled his target and raised more than £2,000 in aid of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

At the start of 2012, he decided to set himself the target of raising £1000 for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance as he loves the work they do and aspires to be pilot or paramedic for the charity.

A pupil at Pickhill School in North Yorkshire, he completed the 25-mile Yorkshire Three Peaks sponsored walk in ten hours, 40 minutes, in September this year.

He also held a coffee morning in May, and a big breakfast in June at his home in Holme-on-Swale, near Ripon, to raise funds, and is holding his final coffee morning this weekend.

Willem said: “I’ll definitely do the Three Peaks again, hopefully in under nine hours, and I’ll raise even more money for the Air Ambulance. It is saving lives every day and I love the helicopters.” He doesn’t live very far from where one of the helicopters is based in Topcliffe and often sits for hours with his binoculars watching the helicopters take off and land.

Harrogate RUFC U15’s are delighted to be supporting Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) for the next two seasons by having the YAA as the main shirt sponsor for the squad. “Due to the generosity of a local supporter we will be able to promote the YAA throughout Yorkshire for the coming two years,” says David Flook Head Coach.

The service that the YAA provides to everybody in Yorkshire is vital and to be able to support it as a team throughout the county is a great honour. Harrogate U15’s are a successful squad with players representing North Yorkshire, Leeds Carnegie and the Welsh Exiles.

Tony Doveston, YAA’s fundraiser for North Yorkshire, said he was delighted that this community based club, with a great team ethos, has decided to support YAA. Receiving life saving rapid response so soon after injury increases someone’s chance of survival and helps speed up the recovery process.

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) is delighted to announce that His Royal Highness The Duke of York, KG has kindly agreed to become the Royal Patron of the Charity.

The announcement comes after The Duke of York, KG visited and officially opened the YAA’s northern airbase at RAF Topcliffe near Thirsk on Monday 9th July. During his speech, His Royal Highness praised the work of the YAA and said he was proud to be able to take on the role of Royal Patron, and was looking forward to supporting the YAA in their future work.

Peter Sunderland, Chairman of the YAA commented “We were absolutely delighted when we heard the news that The Duke of York, KG had agreed to become our Royal Patron. We have always had close links to His Royal Highness as he has been our Honorary Chief Pilot for a number of years, but for him to have accepted to becoming our Royal Patron is wonderful news.”

“We were able to welcome him to our Northern base airbase at RAF Topcliffe last week where he was shown round our excellent facilities, as well as taking time to meet many of our guests. It was lovely to hear him talk about the excellent work our Charity does and how he had been closely following our progress over the last few years too”

“And to top it off, Prince Andrew’s acceptance of Royal Patronage couldn’t have come at a more apt time given it is Her Majesty The Queen’s Jubilee year. There have been so many wonderful fundraising events organised to commemorate this special occasion as well as raising money for the YAA.”

“We hope to be able to involve His Royal Highness in many of the YAA’s future events”

Yorkshire Air Ambulance operates two life-saving helicopters from RAF Topcliffe near Thirsk and Leeds Bradford International Airport. Together they offer a rapid response emergency service across the Yorkshire region 7 days per week, 365 days a year. An independent Charity, the YAA have to raise in excess of £2.6million (£7,200 per day) each year to keep the helicopters flying and to build reserves for the future.

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) welcomed His Royal Highness The Duke of York, KG to officially open their Northern Airbase on Monday 9th July.

The Duke of York, Honorary Chief Pilot to the YAA, was welcomed to their new Northern Airbase at RAF Topcliffe near Thirsk where he unveiled a plaque to commemorate the occasion as well as being shown around their facilities.

Peter Sunderland, Chairman of the YAA commented “We are absolutely delighted to be able to welcome His Royal Highness to our Airbase at RAF Topcliffe. It is such a privilege that he has so kindly agreed to visit us whilst he is visiting North Yorkshire, especially as he is also our Honorary Chief Pilot.”

“We have been operational from the base for six months now serving the North and East areas of Yorkshire, and the YAA have seen a significantly increased number of incidents being attended, resulting in growing activity across this area.”

RAF Topcliffe, which is within the 4th Regiment Royal Artillery Allenbrook Barracks on the outskirts of Thirsk, offers the YAA an established airfield and infrastructure in North Yorkshire, providing a stable and long term future for one of their air ambulances and crew members.

Facilities at RAF Topcliffe for the YAA include new operational office facilities, a hangar to house and maintain the air ambulance, and also dedicated accommodation for aircrew.

Mr Sunderland continues “I would also like to use this occasion to formally thank both the RAF and the 4 Regiment Royal Artillery for facilitating our move, and making us most welcome on the base. We are delighted to be able to have secured such a fantastic facility in the North Yorkshire area and look forward to many more years of operational activity from Topcliffe.”

Yorkshire Air Ambulance operates two life-saving helicopters from RAF Topcliffe near Thirsk and Leeds Bradford International Airport. Together they offer a rapid response emergency service across the Yorkshire region 7 days per week, 365 days a year. An independent Charity, the YAA have to raise in excess of £2.6million (£7,200 per day) each year to keep the helicopters flying and to build reserves for the future.