Archives: Community TYs

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.”

Thank you to the organisers and attendees of the Jane Robinson Tractor Run, in Burton Fleming and Wold Newton, for raising an incredible £2,622 for Yorkshire Air Ambulance with more donations yet to be counted. Over 70 tractors turned up and took part in the run on Sunday 24th April 2022.

Jane Robinson was a Yorkshire Air Ambulance volunteer for many years and organised the annual tractor run for 15 years and many other YAA events over the years.

This year’s tractor run was organised by Jane’s daughter Rheanne and sisters Marie and Sharon.

Rob Scott, East Yorkshire Regional Fundraiser for Yorkshire Air Ambulance, said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to Jane’s family for organising the event and all of the attendees and tractors that took part and made it a great day in Jane’s memory. The £2,622 will help considerably towards our £12,000 a day running costs and Jane will be greatly missed by Yorkshire Air Ambulance, particularly the East Yorkshire team who worked very closely with her over the years.”

A massive thank you to the HR team at Reed Boardall who are raising funds for Yorkshire Air Ambulance throughout the month of April.

Pictured (centre image) are left to right: Caroline Butcher, Carol Doyle and Laura Amies.

We would like to thank them for choosing to support YAA and raising such vital funds to help keep us flying over Yorkshire.

A big thank you to Gareth Scott, who recently organised an in-memory rugby match for his father Adrian. Yorkshire Air Ambulance responded to Adrian’s incident at Wetherby Racecourse a few years ago, but sadly he passed away. The rugby match was held on Saturday 19th March in Birstall and raised over £2,000.

Helen Berriman, West Yorkshire Regional Fundraiser for YAA, said: “We would like to pass on our sincere condolences to Gareth and thank him for his support at this very difficult time. The £2,000 raised from the memorial rugby match will help greatly towards the vital funding of our service.”

A huge thank you to CMS Distribution for their continued support. Yorkshire Air Ambulance has been delighted to be chosen as CMS Distribution charity of the year for the past two years. In 2021 CMS raised an amazing £1579 which was then matched by the company to total £3159 which is enough to fund one emergency mission. Over the past two years, CMS has donated an amazing £8484. Thank you so much for your incredible support.

The annual Masham Sheep Fair is always held over the last weekend in September when the town is taken over by all things sheepy.  As the event couldn’t take place in 2020 due to the pandemic, 2021 proved to be the best yet as locals and visitors were so happy to be able to enjoy a sunny weekend without too many Covid restrictions.  The Sheep Fair committee generously donated all the parking money to Yorkshire Air Ambulance again this year plus supported local charities within the town.  The YAA North team of staff and volunteers helped with the parking and thanks to the generous visitors and support at the stall in the Market Square, a phenomenal £13,663.59 was raised.  At the recent Presentation Evening at the Black Sheep Brewery in Masham, Steve Waudby, YAA’s Director of Aviation thanked the committee and volunteers for their continued support and explained the impact of Covid over the last few years and the future planned developments within the charity.  A raffle during the evening raised another £325.00.

Tessa Klemz commented: “Everyone in Masham has such love and respect for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and the work that it does. One of the charity’s two helicopters is based at RAF Topcliffe in North Yorkshire and in such a rural part of the county people really appreciate the value of the service.  I would like to thank the Masham Sheep Fair Committee for their very generous support over the years which has raised almost £83,500.00 which goes a long way to saving lives across Yorkshire.  Thank you.”

A huge thank you to Laurie and her customers at the Waggon and Horses Fairburn who have raised an impressive £24,000 for Yorkshire Air Ambulance over the years. Laurie has been the landlady at the pub for the past nine years and retires next week.

Helen Berriman, West Yorkshire Regional Fundraiser for Yorkshire Air Ambulance, said: “We cannot thank Laurie and all of her customers enough for their support and generosity over the last few years. The money raised equates to two days running costs for the charity and has really helped towards keeping our helicopters airborne and saving lives across Yorkshire. We would like to wish Laurie a very happy retirement.”

A big thank you to Syngenta in Huddersfield who donated an incredible £2,500 to YAA. The generous donation was the cost of the Christmas party to Yorkshire Air Ambulance after it was cancelled due to the pandemic restrictions. Staff were able to choose a charity to support and chose Yorkshire Air Ambulance. Thank you to everyone at Syngenta for their support.

A big thank you to the staff of MGF Castleford for choosing Yorkshire Air Ambulance as their charity of the year. MGF offer each branch the opportunity to choose a charity to support and the company then donates the profits from the sales of one of their safety boxes, which are used in excavations. In 2021, the Castleford branch raised an incredible £1,534.60 for Yorkshire Air Ambulance, enough to fund both air ambulances for three hours.  Thank you to all the staff of MGF Castleford for their support.