General

One of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance’s (YAA) longest-standing corporate supporters has vowed to continue to support the Charity for a further five years with services worth over £170,000. SICL, an award-winning technology company, provides the Charity with IT support, services and infrastructure and will continue to do so until at least 2018.

The YAA has long been SICL’s chosen Charity but back in 2006 it decided to do more to support the independent Charity, choosing to offer IT support and services free of charge, over five years. In total, this has saved the Charity over £125,000.

However, with the increasing IT infrastructure of the YAA, the new agreement will be now worth in excess of £170,000.

Commenting on their continuing partnership, SICL’s Managing Director Cliff Fox said: “We have a great admiration for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance; operationally, personally and ethically. We’re all very proud to support the YAA who save lives in the region in which we live and work.”

Neale Jacobs, Operations Manager for the YAA also added “We cannot thank SICL enough for their continued support. As an independent Charity, having support from companies such as SICL is invaluable. They have saved us over £125,000 over the last five years which is a huge sum of money for the YAA, so to have their continued support, which this time is worth over £170,000, is phenomenal. This is equivalent to keeping us flying for over three weeks.”

“We have to fundraise each and every day of the year to keep the Charity running, so savings of this nature really are significant, and allow us to spend donated funds on keeping both of the helicopters maintained and in the air saving lives.”

As part of the five year sponsorship deal, the SICL logo will feature on both YAA’s helicopters G-SASH & G-CEMS.

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance are an independent Charity needing to raise £7,200 each day. The operate two life-saving helicopters across the Yorkshire region, seven days per week, 365 days per year. The work of the YAA is featured in the popular BBC documentary series Helicopter Heroes. More information about the Charity can be found on their website www.yaa.org.uk.

Photograph (L-R):YAA Paramedic: Paul Kilner, SICL Managing Director: Cliff Fox, YAA Operations Manager: Neale Jacobs, SICL Finance Director: Shirley Firth.

The work of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance was promoted at the latest meeting of Business for Calderdale.

Through the Yorkshire Business Supporters Network, the charity which has an office based in Elland, are encouraging businesses to become brand members.

Eastwood and Partners (Financial Services), of Elland, hosted the event which was addressed by YAA Chief Pilot Andy Lister, Regional Fundraising Manager Nicky Massen, and ex-patient Carrie Cheeseman who was seriously injured in an accident which the YAA attended and helped save her life, as well as later being called out to her husband after a cycling accident. She said nobody ever knew when their loved ones would need the service.

The YAA needs to raise £7,200 per day to keep both air ambulances in the air.

Pictured (L-R) is Carrie Cheeseman, Karen Wynard of Eastwood & Partners, Nicky Massen and Andy Lister.

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) were saddened to hear of the tragic loss of Captain Peter Barnes earlier this morning.

Captain Barnes had previously flown with the YAA as one of our Pilots a few years ago, and was very well respected amongst our crew and staff.

Our thoughts and sincere sympathies are with the families of all those involved in today’s tragic incident.

Children and staff at a Bridlington nursery school raised an impressive amount for a special local charity.

Cliffe House Nursery, on Third Avenue, donated £540 to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance after holding a Autumn and Christmas Fair.

Around 30 of the nursery’s 90 strong roll, aged 3 to 4-years-old, put on a performance of T’was The Night Before Christmas at the fair, and along with various stalls the nursery raised the money.

Rachel Grey, deputy manager at Cliffe House, said: “The children put on a fantastic performance, and we were delighted with the support that we got at the fair. We hold one every year and donate the proceeds to a local charity. This year we chose the Yorkshire Air Ambulance because it is local and such a good cause.”

Pictured are the children and staff presenting their donation to David Hebden, East Yorkshire Community Fundraiser at Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

A group of fundraisers took part in a sponsored walk in aid of Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

The event was organised by Faye Pincher in memory of her mum’s partner who had previously had his life saved by the YAA.

Peter Littler had an accident while working at Saint-Gobain Glass manufacturing plant at Eggborough and the YAA assisted in his transportation to hospital. Peter held health and safety seminars during his employment to educate staff members about the dangers on site and supported the YAA at every opportunity.

Faye explained “My mother Tracey lost her partner, Peter Littler, at Christmas unexpectedly which was a complete tragedy to everyone who knew him. Pete was one of the most amazing men I ever had the pleasure of knowing.”

The walk took place over the summer and involved a group of around 40 walking a 15 mile route from Selby to York.

Faye added “The walk included people of all age ranges and backgrounds (some people I barely knew which amazed me) coming together to support a charity that solely relies on public donations.”

The total amount raised including Gift Aid, was £7,213.54 which was handed over recently to Bob Smailes, YAA Regional Fundraising Manager in East Yorkshire.

Their loss was someone else’s gain when slimmers set out to raise money for charity.

A total of £733 was raised for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance when Slimming World group members in Yeadon set their minds to helping raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. The groups, which are based at LA Fitness in Yeadon, collected £85 alone from the change given to members after they pay the weekly fee of £4.95. The main bulk of the fundraising came from several raffles held in December.

Group leader Glynis Balshaw said the amount they raised was “fantastic.”

“We chose the Yorkshire Air Ambulance as we wanted a local charity to give all out 5p’s to, and then decided to try and raise a bit more.”

The cheque was presented to Simon Lennon, a volunteer for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, and is pictured with Slimming group leader Glynis Balshaw and group members Gill Driver, Christine Storey, Clare Jones Stuart, Catherine Sunderland and Anita Uttley.

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.

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