Archives: Community TYs

The Hawes-Close-Knit-Friends meet every Tuesday in the Board Inn in Hawes for an afternoon of knitting and nattering.  Last year they created a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party complete with Alice, a Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, the Mad March Hare, a sleepy dormouse, a caterpillar, and obviously plenty of tea and cakes and this year the theme is Shrek.

The installation will be featured outside the Board Inn, Market Place, Hawes from Monday 4th July for three months. Donations from the installation will be split between YAA and the Swaledale Mountain Rescue.

The group spent six months knitting Shrek and his woolly friends. The collection includes Shrek, Donkey, Princess Fiona, Lord Farquaad, Puss in Boots, the Pink Dragon, the Gingerbread Man, 3 Blind Mice, the castle and lots of sunflowers, cabbages and eyeballs.

Tessa Klemz, Regional Fundraiser North said “Yorkshire Air Ambulance are so grateful to the Hawes Yarn Bombers for helping to raise funds for the life-saving charity, and also raise awareness in rural Wensleydale where the helicopter is very much valued and appreciated.  Thank you for your continued support.”

A big thank you to Cudworth Knit and Knatter who raised a brilliant £225 from items that they have knitted. Our South Yorkshire Regional Fundraiser Laura Lawton met them to collect the cheque.

Laura, said: “We would like to thank Cudworth Knit and Knatter for their continuous support and generosity. Community groups like these are the life-blood of YAA and help us greatly in reaching the £12,000 a day it costs to keep our helicopters flying across the region and saving lives.”

A big thank you to the Great Bear Distribution in Chesterfield who have raised an incredible £3,000 for YAA in the last year. The money was primarily raised from the sale of some of their factory seconds.

Laura Lawton, South Yorkshire Regional Fundraiser for Yorkshire Air Ambulance, said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to Great Bear Distribution for their generosity and support and the phenomenal £3,000 raised. The money will help greatly towards the vital funding of our service and enable our helicopters to keep flying over Yorkshire.”

A big thank you to Reed Boardall who raised £305 from a raffle and a silent auction for a signed football picture.  Their HR team Carol, Laura and Carolyn met our North Yorkshire Fundraising Manager Lin Stead to present her with a large cheque.

Lin Stead, Regional Fundraising Manager (East and North) for Yorkshire Air Ambulance, said: “We would like to thank Reed Boardall for their continuous support and generosity. It costs £12,000 a day to keep both our helicopters airborne and the money raised will help greatly towards our daily running costs.”

Read more of our Community Thank you’s HERE.

Thank you to Brian, Hannah and all the team at BRM Ltd East Cowton for their fantastic fundraising at the recent Open Day raising £1,622. This takes their total to over £4,500. The day was a great success thanks to the hard work of Hannah and the team. Guests and YAA staff enjoyed good food in the sunshine and it was a great farming community event. Our YAA promotional looked relatively small compared to the size of some of the tractors.

Lin Stead, Regional Fundraising Manager (East and North) for Yorkshire Air Ambulance, said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to all the team at BRM Ltd East Cowton for their continuous support and generosity. The £4,500 raised to date will help greatly towards the vital funding of our service, particularly within farming communities in rural North Yorkshire.”

A huge thank you and well done to Golden Sands Holiday Park in Withernsea who have raised more than £11,000 over the last few years for Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

The holiday park raised £11,470.50 through various fundraising events and activities, including Saturday night Bingo and ‘Open the Box’ competitions and has pledged to support the charity for the next two years.

Keiron Hardwick, East Yorkshire Community Fundraiser for Yorkshire Air Ambulance, said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to the Golden Sands Holiday Park for raising such an incredible amount of money for Yorkshire Air Ambulance and for their generosity and support over the last few years, especially throughout the pandemic when it was a very difficult time for both hospitality and charities.

It costs £12,000 a day to keep both of Yorkshire’s air ambulances maintained and in the air and the £11,470.50 raised will help greatly towards the vital funding of our service.”

A huge thank you to Julia and her friends for taking part in this year’s Hike4Helis and raising an incredible £761 for YAA  plus gift aid with further donations yet to be received. This year Julia cycled around Ladybower, Derwent and Howden Reservoirs in one day and last year she took part in the challenge and raised a fantastic £170 by walking 117miles.

Julia’s mum, Gabi said “The whole challenge has brought us lots of joy and happiness. We are proud to be supporting Yorkshire Air Ambulance.”

Laura Lawton, South Yorkshire Community Fundraiser for Yorkshire Air Ambulance, said: “We would like to thank Julia, her friends and family for their continuous support and generosity. It’s great to hear all about their Hike4Heli adventures and we truly appreciate all of their fundraising efforts.”

Thank you to the organisers and attendees of the Ben Marklew Memorial Game at Wharfedale Rugby Club on Easter Sunday. The event was held to remember 19-year-old Ben and show their support for the family, Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue.  Parents Sue and Paul and sister Ella presented a cheque for £6,529.07 to North Regional Fundraiser Tessa Klemz who was extremely grateful and humbled by the amount that was raised at the Rugby Match.  Over £1800 was raised from a Silent Auction plus a raffle contributing to the phenomenal amount that will help save lives across Yorkshire.

A huge well done and thank you to Jonny Maw who has raised over £10,000 for YAA selling our merchandise at the Ambulance Liasion desk at Barnsley Hospital.

Prior to working for the Patient Transport Service, Jonny was an Emergency Medical Dispatcher and heard the work of the air ambulance first-hand. He began fundraising for Yorkshire Air Ambulance in 2014.

Speaking of the reason he decided to fundraise for YAA,  Jonny said: “While working as an Emergency Medical Dispatcher, some of the 999 calls that I dealt with required the Yorkshire Air Ambulance to attend, either due to the seriousness of the patient’s condition, or the remote locations which would be difficult to reach by land ambulance.

A few of those calls were featured on BBC’s Helicopter Heroes, and I saw first-hand just how much the charity does, and how crucial it is to the people of Yorkshire.

When I found out that the Air Ambulance is funded entirely by donations, I felt the need to support them in any way I could, so when I started my role as Ambulance Liaison Officer in 2014 with an office at Barnsley Hospital, I contacted the Yorkshire Air Ambulance to enquire about raising money.”

Laura Lawton, YAA South Yorkshire Community Fundraiser, said: “We would like to thank Jonny for his continuous support and generosity over the last 8 years and congratulate him on reaching his £10,000 fundraising milestone. Not only does Jonny raise vital funds for our Charity, but he also helps us spread the important word about the work we do in the South Yorkshire area. We cannot thank him enough for his help.”

Read more of our Community Thank You’s HERE.

A huge thank you to Ashworth Grange Care Home who held an Easter fundraiser for us and raised an impressive £152.80. One of our volunteers Eric hosted a talk and cheque presentation for the residents following their event. Pictured is Sharon troy on the left and Colette Senior on the right.

Helen Berriman,  YAA West Yorkshire Fundraiser, said: “We would like to thank Ashworth Grange Care Home for their support and being fantastic hosts when we held our recent talk. It costs £12,000 a day to keep both of Yorkshire’s air ambulances maintained and in the air and it is fundraisers like these that are the life-blood of our Charity.”

A big thank you to Wakefield Ukulele ‘Wakelele’ for their continued support at our events. When able they join us at various stalls in Wakefield and Leeds to play and attract donors to our stall. Last year, one of their members Mike Hindley walked 1,000 miles for us, raising an incredible £1,090.

To thank them for their continued support, they were invited to our air support unit to see how their support really helps us and our patients.

Join us and the Wakelele group on Thursday 5th May at the White Rose shopping centre.

A huge congratulations to Michelle Crowther who took part in the World Coal Carrying Championships this Easter Bank Holiday Monday in Gawthorpe. Michelle came 7th out of 24 in her race, with a time of 6 minutes 56 seconds and finished joint 21st out of all 53 participants.

Michelle has raised an impressive £218 so far and her JustGiving page is still open and accepting donations: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/michelle-crowther6

Helen Berriman, West Yorkshire Regional Fundraiser for YAA, said: “We would like to say a huge well done and congratulations to Michelle for her success in the World Coal Carrying Championships. It is an incredible accomplishment and we are very thankful for Michelle choosing us as her recipient charity.”