Anglia Lift Off Issue 32

ANGLIA

Liftoff

Issue 32 Autumn 2013 Lifesavers Meet the family behind the dramatic TV documentary

Page 4

Suggested donation £1.50

GOGO Gorilla

DRAGONS’ DAY

Archie’s on the art trail

Putting the fun into fundraising

Page 8

Page 18

Now saving lives by day and night

We need you today YOU MAY NEED US TOMORROW

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welcome

A momentous summer...

Since the last issue of Anglia Lift Off was published we have seen the most significant development to our service since the East Anglian Air Ambulance was set up more than 12 years ago. Having finally been given the go-ahead in the early summer, we are the first dedicated air ambulance service in the country to fly helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) missions after dark and it’s thanks to the generosity of you - our supporters – that this has been possible. As autumn approaches the importance of being able to fly at night will become ever greater; while I don’t want to wish away our late summer evenings, it’s not too long now before it will be dark by tea-time.

When I reflect on how far this organisation has come since one small, aging helicopter was first commissioned at the end of 2000 to provide an air ambulance service covering three counties but only on a Friday - it makes me extraordinarily proud. We’ve done all this under the guidance of our Chairman of Trustees, Andrew Egerton-Smith, who helped found the Charity. We were all delighted to see his hard work recognised as he was made an MBE in The Queen’s Birthday Honours List on 14th June.

To keep our service at the forefront of clinical excellence and operational effectiveness our fundraising effort remains as essential as ever. Our lottery plays a major part in this and readers of this magazine who contribute regularly as lottery players can feel proud of themselves for enabling our life-saving service to become the best in the UK. We are also seeing an increasing number of people offering their time to us as volunteers: some working with us behind the scenes, others taking an active role in fundraising. More details about volunteering with the Charity can be found on Page 10.

There is no better way to understand the importance of our front line clinicians than to see them in action, working to save someone’s life. Television cameras gave us this opportunity recently with the BBC 1 Life Savers series, which focussed on the major trauma centre at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. A number of the patients’ stories featured our medical teams treating casualties at the scene of their incidents and then continuing to provide critical care en-route to hospital. To have an opportunity to see our medical colleagues working to help people suffering from such serious injuries is rare and humbling. One of the families we helped in that programme has since undertaken some fundraising for us and you can read how their recovery is continuing on Page 4. As I write the BBC have been back filming with another former patient recently and his story will be shown on an ‘Inside Out’ programme this autumn.

Keeping our work in the public eye is very important and one of the ways in which you can help with this is simply to pass this copy of ‘Anglia Lift Off’ to someone else when you have read it.

Whether you have supported us since the early days, or this is the first time you have seen this publication, thank you for your interest in our work. I hope this magazine goes some way to show you why your support is so vital.

Tim Page Chief Executive

Contents Crash family’s rescue

4

Testing our night skills

6

MBE for Charity founder

8

Volunteer strategy boost

10

Night flights’ challenges

11

Meet the helicopter

12

Our missions

15

Lottery news

16

Dragons create a splash

18

Charity card shops

20

Generous gift

22

Contact Us

Your regional fundraiser: North Cambridgeshire/West Norfolk – Chris Donaldson 106 Culley Court, Bakewell Road, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire PE2 6WA. 01733 367208 email: christopher.donaldson@eaaa.org.uk South Cambridgeshire/West Suffolk – Barbara McGee Melbourn Science Park, Cambridge Road, Melbourn, SG8 6EE. 01763 262697 email: barbara.mcgee@eaaa.org.uk Suffolk – Pip Duffy Whitehouse Distribution Centre, Whitehouse Road, Ipswich IP1 5NX 01473 745007 email: pip.duffy@eaaa.org.uk Norfolk – Jess Down Hangar E, Gambling Close, Norwich Airport, Norwich NR6 6EG 01603 489406 email: jess.down@eaaa.org.uk Bedfordshire – Kay Marter The Rufus Centre, Steppingley Road, Flitwick, Bedfordshire MK45 1AH 01525 718517 email: kay.marter@eaaa.org.uk General enquiries: 0845 066 9999 Website: www.eaaa.org.uk Email: info@eaaa.org.uk Lottery: lottery@eaaa.org.uk Charity number:

1083876

Editor:

Clare Phillips liftoff@eaaa.org.uk www.barberjackson.com www.barnwellprint.co.uk

Design: Print:

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By using Carbon Balanced Paper through the World Land Trust on this publication we have offset 4040kg of Carbon & preserved 339sqm of critically threatened tropical forests.

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Cover picture: One of our first night missions by Daniel Brock (see page 6)

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TV crash family’s thank you concert

Being given life-saving care by an EAAA clinician is something that most people will not ever need to experience first hand or even witness with a loved one. But when three members of the same Cambridgeshire family were seriously injured in a car crash last winter, their care from the accident scene until when they left hospital was documented by a television crew for a prime-time BBC1 film about Addenbrooke’s Hospital’s new regional major trauma centre.

John and Tricia Davis from March were on their way to join fellow members of Chatteris Town Band for a Christmas carol concert in a local church in December last year when they were involved in a serious car crash. With them in the car was their daughter Dawn and the vehicle also contained their instruments and other items needed for the concert – including all the refreshments. The driver of the other vehicle was also seriously hurt. Medics on the scene called for specialist help from the EAAA clinicians.

EAAA colleagues Dr Laszlo Hetzman and critical care paramedic Jemma Varela attended to Dawn, while also being filmed. Dawn had a badly broken femur, or thighbone, one of the largest bones in the body and other injuries. Jemma explained that the cameraman had worked closely with them for several months so that at a major incident such as this he knew what was appropriate Lift off

Neil and Audun continued to treat Tricia and John at the scene but Tricia’s condition had deteriorated and her lung had collapsed.

The clinicians made a hole in her chest at the crash scene to allow her to breathe but in the ambulance on the way to hospital her condition worsened again and they had to re-open it. After watching the programme Tricia said: “Neil and Audun saved my life. If the air ambulance crew hadn’t been sent I wouldn’t be here now as nobody else there could have done what they did.”

Tricia was the last of the four casualties to arrive at the hospital and by this time other family members were already there. In the immediate aftermath of the crash John had managed, while still trapped in the car, to call his son and explain what had happened.

The impact of the crash on Tricia and John’s two sons as they faced the enormity of the situation with both parents and their sister seriously injured was brought home to viewers of the programme.

Tricia said: “It was a difficult time for all the family, particularly as it was close to Christmas. John was out of hospital for Christmas but Dawn and I were still in Addenbrooke’s. However, they made sure we had a special family Christmas as my daughter-in-law Emma Jane, organised a family supper in the hospital. It is something we always do at Christmas and being a very close family we didn’t want the accident to change things.”

I was so relieved when Neil and Audun arrived and took control. At the time I didn’t know that the BBC was also filming them.

The casualties were trapped in the vehicles and so seriously injured that two EAAA crews attended. Critical care paramedic Neil Flowers and Dr Audun Langhelle concentrated their efforts on Tricia who had multiple rib fractures and pierced lungs, as well as back and arm injuries. Tricia, who had been trapped in the car for over an hour said: “I was so relieved when Neil and Audun arrived and took control. At the time I didn’t know that the BBC was also filming them.”

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to ask them about. She added: “Watching the programme afterwards I thought it was excellently executed and showed how hard the emergency services and hospital were fighting to keep people alive. We don’t consider ourselves to be heroes but constantly want to do the very best we can. I was very proud of my EAAA colleagues who featured in the programmes as well.”

The family were followed by the cameras throughout their stay in Addenbrooke’s.

Tricia remembers seeing the camera crew as she came round in the critical care unit.

She said: “At the time I didn’t realise they were filming for television because they were wearing the same scrubs that all the doctors wore.”

During their stay in hospital the Davises were visited by other members of the Chatteris Town Band, with whom they had been due to perform on the night of the crash. At that stage, because of the damage her lungs had suffered, Tricia wasn’t sure whether she would ever be able to play the tenor horn again – but she mentioned to her fellow players that she didn’t know how she could ever thank the EAAA crews who came to the scene. Without initially telling Tricia, the band members came up with an idea for a way of saying thanks.

Tricia left hospital soon after Christmas and Dawn was allowed home in the New Year as the family continued their recuperation. John was able to return to work in March but as ‘Anglia Lift Off’ went to press Dawn was still waiting to hear when she would be well enough to go back.

The Life Savers episode featuring the family was the first to be shown in the three part series. It showed the raw emotions of the family as they came to terms with what had happened. Tricia said they were able to see the film before it was screened and although it was traumatic to watch it she said it helped them all to cope with the aftermath.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, fellow band member Phil Cutts was putting plans in place for a huge charity concert involving 60 musicians from five different bands to be staged in Ely Cathedral. It was only after Tricia had returned to band practice to see if she was still able to play an instrument that she found out about the concert, which took place in July.

L-R Dawn, John and first time after th Tricia meet for the e crash Meanwhile Tricia said life for the Davis family is starting to get back to normal, adding: “The accident has left us all a bit shell shocked but incredibly grateful to all the emergency services at the scene. If Neil and Audun had not driven all that way I would not be here to carry on enjoying my life with my family and friends. Words cannot express my gratitude, and I will never forget what they did for me.”

The accident has left us all a bit shell shocked but incredibly grateful to all the emergency services at the scene.

Both Tricia and John played in the concert and have continued to play in the band. Tricia added: “It was wonderful to have so many musicians take part in the concert but we are always looking for more musicians to join us. The Chatteris Town Band has been going for 135 years and now we want to take it into the future.” The band is currently recruiting players and anyone interested in finding out more should visit its website at www.chatteristownband.com.

To view the Life Savers episode visit the EAAA’s YouTube channel from the link on our website where the programme is saved in our ‘favourites.’

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Night missions begin East Anglian Air Ambulance has become the first dedicated air ambulance service to fly helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) missions at night. On page 11 our Director of Clinical Operations Dr David Zideman explains in more detail what this means for the organisation and our clinicians. On these pages we take a look back at some of the achievements so far since being given clearance at the end of May to operate this service.

Operation Night Owl

Soon after we were authorised to fly HEMS missions at night we decided to test how we would work with other emergency services at a major night-time incident. We organised an exercise at an airfield in Cambridgeshire which enabled us to work with colleagues from the Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS), East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) and Cambridgeshire Constabulary.

Earlier in the day, at Conington Airfield, near Peterborough, the aftermath of a road traffic collision was set up on the site and at 10pm the exercise began as fire, police and ambulance services were called in to action in order to free and treat casualties being played by actors and dummies. The East Anglian Air Ambulance helicopter Anglia Two left its base at Cambridge Airport and landed on scene shortly afterwards following a call to attend to treat and airlift the most seriously injured.

Those taking part in the ‘live play’ were asked to respond to whatever they found on scene and act as they would if it was a real emergency. Patients were cut out of their vehicles and treated at the scene before one was loaded in to the aircraft in order to be flown to hospital, all while being observed by officers assessing how the teams reacted to what they encountered.

Gerry Hermer, Aviation Lead for East Anglian Air Ambulance, said: “We’re extremely grateful to the other emergency services for coming out and helping us to test our night-time procedures. Exercises like this are an essential part of training our pilots and clinical teams before they respond to incidents; all of us have benefited from this evening.

“Simulating events like this means that we can all learn from each other so that when we respond to a real life incident, the patient receives the best possible care available, safe in the knowledge that those helping them have practiced these procedures time and time again.”

Jerome Neville, Station Commander at CFRS, said: “It’s always important for us as a Service to understand the capabilities of other agencies and emergency services. The ability to work together to provide these realistic exercises means we learn how to improve the partnership working we already enjoy, whilst allowing us to look at the emergency response we offer to the public.

“These joint training sessions are invaluable for increasing the efficiency of how we all respond to an emergency, which will ultimately save lives in our community.”

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EEASTs Head of Resilience and Special Operations, Robert Flute, who attended the exercise said: “The exercise was a splendid example of multi-agency working and demonstrated the enhanced capabilities of the East Anglian Air Ambulance and, above all, aiding a successful patient outcome. EEAST looks forward to utilising this HEMS asset and will be holding similar exercies at further locations around the region.”

Cambridgeshire’s Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hopkins said: “The exercise was an excellent opportunity for us to work alongside colleagues from the East Anglian Air Ambulance and other emergency services in order to test our joint response.

“Exercises like this are very important because they allow us to accurately simulate a potentially real-life event and so prepare more effectively. I was impressed by the contributions from all the agencies involved.”

Further exercises like this will be taking place around the region in the near future to continue and enhance air ambulance training.

Some of our other night missions...

N IGH T Mission

COVER STORY: Night time transfer An important role for our crews operating at night is to transfer patients who need specialist care from one hospital to another. This was the case on the night of Friday 14th June when Anglia Two was deployed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn. The crew were called at 10.41pm as a seriously ill patient needed to be transferred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. Captain Graham Wayman touched down on the hospital’s landing site where local resident and photography student Daniel Brock managed to take our stunning cover photo.

Daniel said: “I live fairly close to the hospital and my subject at A Level photography is aviation so I love to take pictures of the EAAA. I was aware that this was one of the first night transfers performed by the Charity and was given permission by security to take some pictures of the helicopter on the landing pad.”

Meanwhile, the patient, a woman in her fifties, had been admitted to the hospital earlier that day but after initial treatment medics felt that she should be transferred to Addenbrooke’s. Dr Michele Zasa and critical care paramedic Gary Spitzer waited for their hospital colleagues to complete their treatment of the patient before she was taken to the aircraft and flown to Cambridge Airport from where a waiting ambulance took her the short distance to hospital, as the Addenbrooke’s helipad is not yet equipped for night time landings.

Our very first night time HEMS mission was at 10.04pm on the night of Friday 24th May. Critical care paramedic Neil Flowers and Dr Neil Berry were called to assist at a collision between a motorbike and a car near Basildon in Essex. One of the casualties needed the specialist care of the region’s major trauma centre at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. Our crew carried out treatment at the scene before flying the man back to Cambridge.

N IGH T Mission A man in his sixties was airlifted by our night crew at 9pm on 12th July following an incident near Ely. The casualty was attended by Dr Antonio Bellini and critical care paramedic Ben Caine who were flown to the scene by Captain Chris Sherriff. The man was treated by the crew before being flown to Cambridge Airport from where he was transferred, in a stable condition, to Addenbrooke’s by road.

N IGH T Mission Anglia Two’s night time crew of critical care paramedic Jemma Varela and Dr Anya Wallace were flown to Watton in Norfolk reaching a patient in just 18 minutes at around 9pm on 16th July. They treated a woman in her thirties who had suffered a fall to enable her to be taken by road to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

Details of our missions can be found on our website www.eaaa.org.uk/missions.

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News Chairman’s work recognised

The Chairman of the Charity’s Trustees was made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list this summer for his work with the emergency services in East Anglia.

Andrew Egerton-Smith, a former chairman of the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust, was one of those who helped found the Charity in 2000 and has been a driving force in its development. The Chief Executive of EAAA Tim Page said: “We are thrilled that Andrew’s tremendous dedication has been recognised in this way. His steely determination and undoubted abilities, energy and enthusiasm for helping people remains as strong as ever. Andrew is a remarkable man who has achieved remarkable things; our Charity is extremely lucky to have him.”

Gorillas in our midst

Visitors to Norwich this summer probably won’t have failed to notice an eclectic display of painted gorilla sculptures around the city centre – including Archie, the air ambulance gorilla. He was one of 54 gorillas depicting all sorts of images or people including the fictional DJ some consider to be Norwich’s most famous son – Alan Partridge.

The sculptures were decorated in a range of artwork created by schools, community groups and professional artists and sponsored by local businesses. They formed an art trail around the city and the whole event has been raising money for the charities Break and the Born Free Foundation. The gorillas will be sold at auction in early October. Archie, who was sponsored for EAAA by an anonymous donor, was the work of artist Lisa Kirkham and was situated near the Puppet Theatre in St James Place.

‘Anglia Lift Off’ online

It’s now much easier to access ‘Anglia Lift Off’ online as well as reading a paper version. We have been working towards this goal for some time and are delighted to now be able to offer the magazine as an app for iphones and tablets or a page-turning issue on our website.

It will save the Charity a considerable sum to be able to notify supporters when the next issue is available online to read, rather than posting a printed copy. If you would like to stop receiving ‘Anglia Lift Off’ in the post and be emailed the link to each new edition please contact us by email at lottery@eaaa.org.uk letting us know your name and address (as printed on the address sheet with this magazine) and, if known, your EAAA lottery membership number.

If you prefer to continue receiving a paper copy then there is no need to contact us. If you’d like to have a look at the app please visit the app store using an iPad or iPhone and search for EAAA. 8

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Keep up with us

online

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter and keep up to date with all our news every day. Find us on Facebook as East Anglian Air Ambulance Charity and on Twitter as @ EastAngliAirAmb. We also have Facebook and Twitter pages for each of the four counties we cover and regularly share their content.

Here’s what people have been talking about recently:

Kevin Sparrow Thank you for saving my life while at work in March 2012. I suffered a heart attack aged 31.

@redsfirewatford Well done everyone @EastEnglandAmb @A07Fire @EastAngliAirAmb a great job with a very professional approach. Excellent interagency working.

Willy Jean Going to meet the air ambulance crew tomorrow at Cambridge and I can’t wait I will never stop raising money for them and running marathons for them they’re a part of my life for ever!!!

@gpm12310 54 miles for @LapOfAnglia in aid of @EastAngliAirAmb this morning. Met a dairy farmer who had been airlifted - he promised to sponsor us!

James Jacktosome Piercy Today we played ‘pin the pilot on the helicopter’ at the school fayre.

@Nicky_Paton BBQ, a Maze, Go Karting, Llamas and bouncy castles. Lovely day with the @EastAngliAirAmb at their Family Fun Day!

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Photo: Catherine Ashmore

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Make a difference New volunteer strategy The EAAA has appointed Victoria Pank to the new role of Volunteer Programme Development Manager to expand the Charity’s volunteer programme and ensure it’s run in line with best practice and current legislation. Victoria has worked for two other charities gaining extensive experience in volunteer management.

Victoria said: “My role is to look at how we can expand the volunteer programme here at EAAA and make it the best it can be. As a charity we are really looking to diversify our volunteer force and to get volunteers involved in all areas of the organisation. The Charity continues to go through a time of great change and excitement so there really is no better time to join us. Historically volunteers have mainly been involved in fundraising activities and whilst this is hugely important to the Charity’s survival we want to start offering additional, more diverse opportunities to volunteers.”

In driving the programme forward Victoria is creating opportunities for volunteers that range from short term tasks and projects to more regular long-term commitments.

Victoria added: “Volunteers always have been and always will be an integral part of the Charity and we really couldn’t do what we do without the support of all our dedicated volunteers. If you have some time to give we would love to hear from you. Equally if you have a particular skill you think could benefit us please do get in touch. We are always open to new ideas.”

You can find out more about volunteering opportunities in the How to help us feature on page 20 or visit our website – www.eaaa.org.uk/volunteer. Victoria can be contacted on 01603 269320 or by email: victoria.pank@eaaa.org.uk.

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Volunteer focus: Martine Silkstone Martine, from Suffolk, joined the Communications Team as a volunteer in our Cambridge office in April this year. Giving up her time for two days a week in the office, she is a huge asset to the team by contributing her skills in many ways including writing and marketing and learning new ones along the way.

Why volunteer for EAAA? I had followed the work of the East Anglian Air Ambulance for years through the website and Facebook page and when I saw that it was possible to volunteer, I jumped at the chance to be part of such an amazing charity.

Communications and marketing is an area I am very interested in working in and this is great experience to add to my CV which I hope might help me get a job in this field in future.

You only have to read the Charity’s tagline to find the motivation to help: ‘We need you today, you may need us tomorrow’. Although fortunate enough to not have needed their services myself (as yet), just recently they attended a car accident near my house where a neighbour had been hurt and needed to be airlifted to hospital – that could so easily have been me or one of my family. It is an honour to make a contribution, however small, to a charity which saves lives.

What does your role involve?

I volunteer for EAAA Communications and there is a good variety of work to be done, from social media and marketing to writing articles for local publications and parish magazines. I have even taken pictures of the helicopter and crew! It has been a great learning experience and I have really been made to feel like a part of the team. After many years working for myself doing the same job, it has been such fun to do something new and have lovely colleagues to chat to.

What is the best bit about your role?

It’s hard to say which is the ‘best bit’. I have really enjoyed having the chance to write articles and receive support and feedback from the communications team – it’s something I have always wanted to do but not really had the opportunity to do before – and working within such a friendly team is lovely.

It is fair to say, however, that I really enjoy visits to the Crew Room and jump at any chance to sit in the helicopter.

Would you recommend volunteering for EAAA? I think that there is sometimes a view of volunteering which is quite limited, but there are many opportunities to use whatever skills you may have, in a wide variety of roles across the Charity. You can even try something a little different, like me. So, the best advice I can give to someone thinking of volunteering is ‘do it!’ It is great fun and it feels good to be doing something worthwhile.

Communications volunteer Martine Silkstone

Delivering excellencE

The clinical challenges of night flying Since May our service has been able to operate after dark, extending mission hours from 0700 to midnight. EAAA is the UK’s first dedicated air ambulance charity to be able to offer a night time helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) and achieving this goal has brought its own challenges. In this article for ‘Anglia Lift Off’ our Director of Clinical Operations, Dr David Zideman explains what this means for the clinicians and the service...

On the 24th May 2013 East Anglian Air Ambulance announced the commencement of extended mission hours from 0700hrs to midnight.

Previously the air ambulance operations were constrained by the onset of darkness and we had to substitute a ‘car response’ at nightfall. The extension of our flying hours has come about following modifications to the Cambridge aircraft (Anglia Two), extensive training of our crews in night procedures and the detailed inspection and approval of our EC135 aircraft, medical equipment and staff by the Civil Aviation Authority for night missions.

The ability to fly these extended hours has resulted in us being able Flying is under night to offer our extended advanced medical services by our doctor/ visual flight conditions paramedic team to the whole of together with the use of night the East of England with the only limitation being the prevailing vision glasses and landing is weather conditions. This will assisted by a high intensity become very important in the winter months when dusk can be light that has been fitted to as early as 1500hrs, previously the undercarriage of the reducing our effective flight helicopter. response time in half. Now we can reach the coast in less than thirty minutes and, more importantly, transfer seriously injured or sick patients to the East of England major trauma centre in Cambridge or to the most appropriate hospital within a similar rapid time frame. Flying is under night visual flight conditions together with the use of night vision glasses and landing is assisted by a high intensity light that has been fitted to the undercarriage of the helicopter. The limitations for night flying are determined for each mission by the pilot. These include poor visibility or deteriorating weather conditions and the ability to select a safe on scene landing site. At present there are very few hospitals in the region with helicopter landing pads and so we still rely on the aircraft being able to use a local pre-determined approved landing site and an ambulance transfer for the remaining short journey to hospital.

the use of head torches and to recognise changes in colour caused by ambient light (for example, it is difficult to visualise veins under amber/orange street lights). We have also made some changes to our medical kit by the addition of fluorescent strips and the use of glow-sticks so that we can easily find our equipment bags even in the darkest of conditions. We have developed unique night standard operating procedures to ensure the safety of our teams when arriving or leaving an incident and in and around the helicopter.

So far our night missions have been requests to attend sick and seriously injured patients and to provide a rapid advanced medical response, treatment on scene and reduced transfer to hospital times. We are continuing to work closely with the East of England Ambulance Service to develop our night flying response service.

Extending our emergency medical services into night hours is not new to the medical team, as we have previously responded by car from Cambridge and Norwich to local calls. Working at night does have its unique points; darkness is not the problem, although there are many grades of darkness, but it does take time to adjust clinical practice to the best use of available light,

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Fabulous fundraising Fundraising events help us to keep the two air ambulance helicopters serving the people of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk seven days a week. If you have organised an event why not send pictures and details of the day to Liftoff@eaaa.org.uk and we will try to feature them in these pages. If the stories here inspire you to raise some money then the Fundraising Manager for your area would be pleased to hear from you. Contact details are on page 3.

Supporters’ open days Once a year we aim to hold a series of events across the region to thank our supporters and volunteers for everything they do and give them a chance to have a close-up look at the helicopter. We have been fortunate this summer to be able to hold these events at some great locations and thank all the venues and partner organisations who have made them possible…

y Milton Open Da

Rectory Farm at Milton hosted our Cambridgeshire open day and we are extremely grateful to Rob and Marylyn Chapman for their support and for making the day another huge success.

The event coincided with the opening of the farm’s annual Maize Maze which drew big crowds in itself. Area Fundraising Manager Barbara McGee said: “This was really a day that is about thanking our supporters and volunteers but those who came along were incredibly generous and we raised more than £1,000. We had various fundraising stalls and collecting buckets and I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to this fantastic total.”

Earlier the same day Anglia One had visited Sandringham in North West Norfolk. Area Fundraising Manager Chris Donaldson said: “During the two hours that the helicopter was there we welcomed many people presenting cheques and not least of them Keith Piggott. He has been a staunch fundraiser for the Charity for 10 years and his latest donation takes the total he’s raised to more than £25,000. We can’t thank him enough.”

Other attractions on the day included a new rafflestyle fundraising game called ‘Pick a Square’ and a visit by the stunning motorbikes of the Norfolk Goldwings.

Our Suffolk fundraising team didn’t have the same luck with the weather for their open day and charity car boot sale at Trinity Park near Ipswich but still hailed the day a great success.

With a car boot fair and a number of other stalls and attractions as part of a Family Fun Day there was a great atmosphere for the arrival of Anglia One to entertain the crowds.

Our Bedfordshire fundraising team will hold their open day during National Air Ambulance Week on Saturday 28th September. They will be joining forces at Russell Park in Bedford with colleagues from the Highways Agency, Police and Fire Service to show how the emergency services work together. Our aircraft is expected to attend the event during the day and there will be numerous other attractions.

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A group of like-minded people in Bedfordshire have set themselves three challenges to raise money for three charities including EAAA. They have set up a website called Facing Your Limits to document all they are doing and have already undertaken a 40 mile walk from Bedford to Addenbrooke’s Hospital as part of the challenge.

During August they cycled from Lands End to John O’Groats and their final challenge will be a kayaking expedition.

The group Sophy Bassett, Ali Hayes and Donna Neely chose to support charities that meant something to people close to them including Brett Anthony who was airlifted after a zip wire accident in 2011.

Their aim is to raise £25,000 and they are already a quarter

Among the other attractions were the Wicken Brass Band and a Cambridge Fire and Rescue crew demonstrating cutting a trapped casualty out of a vehicle in a mock road crash.

Highlight of the day was the visit by our helicopter Anglia One giving many people the chance to take pictures and look inside the aircraft. Barbara added: “It’s wonderful to be able to show people exactly what their money is being spent on and why their support is so critical.”

Facing their limits

of the way to their target. If you would like to find out more about their remarkable effort, read the moving stories of the people who inspired them to raise money or add some sponsorship to their target please visit

Sandringham O pen Day

www.facingyourlimits.com.

Thank you!

It’s not possible to mention here all the fundraising activities held for us in the region but we are grateful for all of them. Here are just some of them:

Sally Slaymaker at the Halesworth Golf Day

Staff at Baker Tilly Chartered Accountants in Bury St Edmunds have raised over £4,000 with a variety of events including a casino night.

picture courtesy of AndyLangleyPhotography.com/ Digital Events Photography

Generous golfers Two Suffolk golf clubs have generously hosted charity matches recently to raise funds for EAAA. Despite poor weather Halesworth charity golf day which has supported the Charity for 11 years raised a magnificent £11,000. Our thanks go to Ashley Turner and Gary Slaymaker and all who supported this wonderful event.

Stowmarket Rotary Club also chose EAAA as one of the charities to benefit from their golf day at the town’s local course. A number of sponsors, led by John Banks (Honda) ensured as much money as possible could be raised for charity and we were thrilled to be presented with £2,000. Congratulations to winners Gipping Press and runners up Elmswell Butchers. Lily Kent was the winner of the longest shot of the day.

Fantastic total from Florence Teenager Florence Clark has been nominated for a Young People of the Year (YOPEY) award for her amazing fundraising effort in memory of her brother Tristan. Tristan, who was 21, died shortly after a long haul flight from New Zealand. The EAAA crew was called but clinicians were unable to save him.

Florence set up a fundraising page with the aim of raising £6,000 – a sum she passed within a week. Now with her total at around £13,000, Florence is taking part in a half marathon in September with nine friends to boost the total.

Florence, from Foxton near Cambridge, was nominated for the YOPEY award because of her ‘immense courage at creating something so positive out of the tragedy.’ Her fundraising efforts have been supported by numerous friends and family including the Foxton Open Gardens event.

To support Florence please visit www.justgiving.com/florence-clark1.

Tristan with her brother Florence pictured e is raising money. y sh in whose memor

We’d like to thank everyone who visited our stands at the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Shows this year, including in Norfolk celebrity Jake Humphrey who was President of this year’s Show.

Bullock Fair Charity Shop in Harleston has given us another fantastic donation of £20,000.

Our grateful thanks to The Martells who played at our Sparkle in the Night Sky Ball at Trinity Park, Ipswich and the 120 guests who attended helping to raise around £2,000.

Cambridge RAG chose EAAA as their charity and raised £6,500. One of the highlights was their Jailbreak with one team (pictured) reaching Sydney – a Jailbreak World record.

The Isleham Horse Trials again generously supported the Charity and raised over £6,700.

PWC in Norwich recently gave £6,000 as part of their ongoing support.

The Road Haulage Association which supports a different air ambulance charity every year recently presented £1,000 to our Bedfordshire fundraising team.

Kings Junior School in Ely has been supporting EAAA with a variety of events including a Santa Run and an Open Day. The Bramfield and Thorington Charity Pleasure Ride and Dog Show organised by Halesworth and District Riding Club raised over £2,000 for EAAA.

To donate £5 to the East Anglian Air Ambulance please text heli to 70500

Lift off 13

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14 Lift off

Recent Missions We publish details of as many of our missions as possible on our website and a number will also be featured on our social media sites. It’s not possible to include details of every incident we attend in ‘Anglia Lift Off’ but we try to feature some of our missions on these pages, to show the variety of emergencies we attend. For details of some of the night-time missions we’ve flown please see page 6.

Anglia One’s crew worked with the RAF Search and Rescue Team off the coast of Mundesley Meanwhile if you take pictures of either of our helicopters out and about we are always pleased to receive them and, with your permission, endeavour to use them in our magazine or online. Send your pictures to liftoff@eaaa.org.uk

Mission

M i s s i on

Anglia One’s medical crew joined forces recently with the RAF Search and Rescue team from Wattisham in Suffolk to reach and treat a patient located off the North Norfolk coast.

The RAF Sea King helicopter had been out to the patient, a man in his fifties, who had become unwell on a boat located ten miles off the coast of Mundeseley. Winchman Sgt Miles Sunley was left on board to treat the patient, but further expert medical care was required and the services of EAAA crew members Dr Tom Moore and Critical Care Paramedic Gary Steward were called upon.

Captain Flt Lt Jon Hill flew to Norwich International Airport to collect the air ambulance clinicians. They were joined on the flight by Co-Pilot Flt Lt Nick Cowen, Winch Operator Flt Lt Doug Larkham and Winchman Sgt Mark Scotland.

The medics were flown to the scene and lowered on to the boat to treat the man. He was then flown to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

An EAAA spokesperson said: “This is a great example of how two highly skilled teams can work together for the good of the patient. On this occasion, the expert medical skills of our doctor and critical care paramedic were needed and the RAF Search and Rescue team was able to fly to the remote location and lower everyone down.

“The two teams worked extremely well together and gave this patient the best possible medical care available to him.

We wish him well with his recovery.”

A man who became trapped under some machinery in an industrial incident in Cambridgeshire was attended by the crew of Anglia Two. The patient, in his fifties, was treated at the scene by Dr Ari Ercole and Critical Care Paramedic Mark Milsom for multiple injuries before he was flown.to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge by Captain Chris Sherriff.

M i s s i on A youth who fell from a speaker at an unlicensed music event was airlifted to hospital by the crew of Anglia One. The teenager was treated by Dr Akos Soti and Critical Care Paramedic Carl Smith, before being flown to Addenbrooke’s Hospital with a head injury.

ing a vehicle Anglia One attend the road that had rolled off

Mission Anglia One was called to a man in his seventies whose vehicle had rolled off the road. The man had suffered a number of fractures and was treated at the scene by Dr Akos Soti and Critical Care Paramedic Chris Neil, who were flown to the incident by Captain Steve Norris in a flight lasting just 9 minutes. The patient was airlifted to hospital.

Mission A teenage motorcyclist who suffered a serious leg injury when his vehicle collided with a wall was treated by clinicians from Anglia Two at the scene. The youth was then taken to hospital by road.

Mission

The Police assist ed Anglia One at th the crew of is inicident

A worker on the Queen’s Sandringham Estate was airlifted to hospital after falling into a lake. It’s thought he may have been trapped underwater by a ride-on lawnmower. Police and colleagues began first aid before the EAAA team aboard Anglia One arrived and flew the man to Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

Lift off 15

Lottery

e

price ris o t t o L al n io t a n Beat the

Lottery jackpot winners since our last edition

Lotto game, national lottery e th ns ru sday and ch hi ,w t for its Wedne is year Camelot a lottery ticke of sed, the ice In January of th ea pr e cr th in g was doublin values will be it e iz at th pr d its ce of d the un e anno ough som e numbers an ing draws. Alth for matching fiv e iz e pr Th e . ag rs Saturday even er g the av five numbe also be halvin in if you match w n ca u yo company will nt ou reducing the am bonus ball and ring more this autumn. ed uc od tr in elot may be offe aws said: “Cam changes will be dr ry d £2 a line tte fin Lo ill ages the EAAA some people w an at m th n ho ea w h m ead d as Jody Five by 100% coul our lottery inst raise the price nsider playing to co t ill bu w ey ey on th m s prize that perhap pensive. I hope prohibitively ex ce. ently reaches an ch r ain at £1 pe cumulator frequ ac r ou s, ize pr which will rem ging sums as sts to play our but the £1 it co t offer life-chan n’ at th do e ly w on t gh No ou “Alth re it is won. saving service.” ent on our lifend pounds befo sp sa is ou it th l of t ra os ve m se ity and act our ctly to the char ub please cont lottery goes dire workplace or cl ur yo r fo or te d ica purchase lottery synd bership can be To set up an EAAA . Lottery mem 00 94 bers can 48 em 3 m 60 w 01 ne lottery team on . Alternatively op sh e sit eb w via our renewed online these pages. ing the form on us ry tte lo r join ou

For full details each week of the EAAA lottery winners and the current accumulator prize please visit our website – www.eaaa.org.uk The results are published there first and as soon as possible after the draw is made. They remain available on the site for approximately one month. If you follow us on Twitter @EastAngliAirAmb we also try to ‘tweet’ when the results are available, as soon as possible after the Friday afternoon draw. In the last quarter the £1,000 jackpot has been won by: Feb 1

Mrs A. Heath

Dereham, Norfolk

May 10

Mr J. Donald

Peterborough

May 17

Mrs S. Lee

Norwich

May 24

Mr J. Wing

Cambridge

May 31

Mr B. Pye

Horstead, Norfolk

Jun 7

Mr J. Wilson

Peterborough

Jun 14

Mrs B. Saxty

Luton

Jun 21

Mr & Mrs Roper

Wisbech, Cambs

Jun 28

Mr P. Pope

Hevingham, Norfolk

Jul 5

Mr D. Bebbington

Harpenden, Herts

Jul 12

Mrs J. Barley

Watton, Norfolk

Jul 19

Mrs A.M. Cook

Aldeburgh, Suffolk

Jul 26

Mr W. Maloy

Luton

The Accumulator Prize The accumulator prize has been won just once since our last edition.

This is a special draw made every week with additional numbers added to the system. Each week a total of £500 is added to the prize pot – up to a maximum of £25,000. When the prize is won the accumulator starts again the following week at £500. Everyone who plays our lottery is automatically entered for this draw and has the same chance of winning this as all our other weekly prizes.

The prize fund had grown to £3,500 by June 6th when Mrs P. Taylor was the lucky winner.

Congratulations to all our lottery winners and thanks to all who have chosen to make a donation to the charity following a win. We’d especially like to thank those who have completed a Gift Aid form when making a donation. This allows us to claim 20% tax back from the Government, if the donor is a UK tax-payer at no extra cost to them. The form is available from our offices or website.

About our lottery

How does it work?

How do I claim my prize?

Supporting the East Anglian Air Ambulance lottery is one of the easiest and most sustainable ways to keep us flying and saving lives. There are 18 main cash prizes including a jackpot of £1,000 which is won every week. We also have an accumulator prize which rises by £500 per week. The maximum it can reach is £25,000 and we have had several of our supporters win significant sums. Everyone who plays the lottery is automatically entered into the accumulator draw.

Once we receive your completed membership application we enter your details onto our lottery system. You’ll be sent a letter and membership card with details of your lucky number. Each Friday the winners are randomly selected from all current paying members.

There is no need make a claim as we automatically send out all the winners’ cheques by 1st class post on Friday afternoons. A list of winners can be found on our website www.eaaa.org.uk.

The results are also announced on Radio Norwich 99.9FM at 9am on Saturday morning. Some local newspapers also print our lottery results.

16

Lift off

How much does it cost?

Each ‘chance’ in our lottery costs £1 and you can have more than one ‘chance’ each week if you wish.

Lottery Membership application New Member Details (Please fill in your contact and payment details)

MP’s visit to Charity

Name Address Chloe Smith (L) with Natalie Cotton

Our lottery staff were delighted to welcome Chloe Smith, the Conservative MP for Norwich North, to the Charity’s Norwich headquarters in the spring where she pressed the button to start the weekly lottery draw. Miss Smith was visiting the team in her role as leader of a steering group in the Norwich For Jobs campaign, which aims to halve youth unemployment in Norwich in two years. It was through this initiative that EAAA recruited apprentice Natalie Cotton who works with the lottery team. The MP commented: “This is a great innovation from a really good local charity and obviously really engages not only the members of the charity but also its staff. It is a really happy buzzing office and I hope it encourages other Norwich and Norfolk businesses to consider what they could do to help get young Norwich working.”

Miss Smith generously signed up as a lottery member during her visit.

Thank you The East Anglian Air Ambulance Charity is enormously appreciative of the support from our loyal lottery players. Your weekly contribution has generated millions for the charity since it started. Without your continued support, it would be very difficult for us to maintain the service we currently provide.

However, please don’t forget to let us know if you move house, we send our winning cheques through the post each week so it’s vital that we have an up to date address for our players.

Postcode

Tel

For cheque payment:

No. of chances per week No. of weeks (min 13) Total amount due £

For direct debit payments: (Please fill in the form below)

Instruction to your Bank or Building Society to pay by Direct Debit

Service User Number

Name and full postal address of your Bank or Building Society

422746

To: The Manager

Bank/Building Society

Address Postcode Name(s) of Account Holder(s) Branch Sort Code Bank/Building Society Account Number Reference:

Instruction to your Bank or Building Society Please pay East Anglian Air Ambulance Direct Debits from the account detailed in this Instruction subject to the safeguards assured by the Direct Debit Guarantee. I understand that this Instruction may remain with East Anglian Air Ambulance and, if so, details will be passed electronically to my Bank/Building Society.

Signature(s)

Date

Banks and Building Societies may not accept Direct Debit Instructions for some types of account.

How do I join?

Simply complete the application form on these pages and return it to us at the address printed on the form. All players must be over the age of 16. If you would like to pay by cheque then don’t forget to include this in with your application form. Alternatively if you don’t want to cut out the form or you know several people who might like to join, then it’s now even easier to do so.

We have an ancillary remote license from the Gambling Commission which means we can sign lottery members up via our website (visit the shop section to do so) and over the phone on 01603 489400.

If you are reading this edition of ‘Anglia Lift Off’ because you are already a member of our lottery then when you have finished it, why not pass it on to someone else who might like to find out more about supporting our work in this way.

The sum of £ Monthly (£4.34) First payment on

(Minimum payment of £4.34 per chance per month)

Quarterly (£13) /

/

Half-yearly (£26)

Yearly (£52)

and thereafter until further notice.

Please return your completed membership application form (with cheque made payable to Friends of East Anglian Air Ambulance) to: Friends of East Anglian Air Ambulance, Hangar E, Norwich Airport, Gambling Close, Norwich NR6 6EG Members must be aged 16 years or over, please tick this box to confirm Each chance costs £1 per week. All the data we hold is gathered and managed in strict accordance with the Data Protection Act (1998). We will not disclose any information supplied by you to any third party. We may contact you occasionally with information about other aspects of our work. If you would prefer not to receive these mailings please tick this box

Issue 32

Lift off

17

fundraising Ride for your lives Our second Ride for Your Lives event at Grafham Water in Cambridgeshire in June looks set to have raised around £5,000 for the Charity thanks to the efforts of dozens of cyclists.

f r at the start o Cyclists gathe s Live Ride for Your

Nearly 70 people took part including families and individuals and a number of corporate teams too.

Organiser and Area Fundraising Manager Chris Donaldson said: “We wanted to achieve a collective 1,000 miles and in fact 1,271 miles were cycled in total during the seven hours of the event.

The last riders finished just as the first raindrops of the day fell.”

Barclays Peterborough won the corporate prize, their team amassing 500 of the total miles by themselves. They were closely followed by DHL Debenhams, GA Aviation and Royal Sun Alliance.

Chris added: “I’d like to thank all who took part, especially those returning for a second year, for helping us to raise a fantastic sum.”

Dragon boat fun Eight teams took part in the first EAAA Dragon Boat Race event held in July at Whitlingham Country Park in Norwich. The teams each raced three times, dropping their slowest time. The four fastest teams then went into the semi-finals before Southwood Hall Sweethearts and Making Waves battled it out in the final – the team from Southwood Hall taking the prize.

Our thanks to the companies that took part: Aquaterra, Foster Property Maintenance, Foster Renewable Energies, Kettle Foods, Bertrams (who took the prize for the best dressed team), Snelling Business Systems, Duffields and Southwood Hall. We’re grateful to Andrew Smith for the photo below and all who supported the event. Look out for details of next year’s event in a future issue of ‘Anglia Lift Off’ and also on our website.

18 Lift off

Runway Run Walkers, joggers and competitive runners still have time to enter our annual Runway Run at Tibenham Airfield in south Norfolk on Sunday 29th September.

There is a 10k course and a 5k course with registration on the day opening at 2pm. Entertainment on the day will be provided by local band Dixiemix and there will be refreshments including a barbecue. We’d like to thank our sponsors Big Sky Additions and Hugh J Boswell for their support of this event.

Full details and online registration can be found on our website in the Fundraising section.

Three peaks challenge A 25-strong team from the Norwich area, including a group of colleagues from Aviva, took part in a gruelling expedition up the highest mountains of Great Britain.

In early May they braved freezing temperatures, rain and snow to scale the peaks of Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in aid of EAAA – with some completing the challenge within 24 hours. Between them they raised almost £18,000 with some of them describing it as ‘the hardest thing they have ever done’ and ‘an experience like no other.’ Our thanks to all who took part and helped the team raise such an incredible sum.

Three Peaks C hallenge Team

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Lift off 19

How to help us Christmas is coming Many readers of ‘Anglia Lift Off’ will have received a copy of our Christmas brochure with the last edition – and orders for cards and merchandise have already been received from our very generous readers and supporters. If you received this magazine in the post we have included another order form on the back of your address label.

However, if you didn’t receive our brochure in the post there are still many opportunities to purchase cards in the run up to Christmas. All of our Area Fundraising Managers have stocks of cards and will be taking them to the events they attend.

The full brochure of Christmas merchandise, which also includes membership of our lottery as a Christmas gift, will be available to download from our website, www.eaaa.org.uk, together with an order form and we hope it will be possible to buy this year’s Christmas cards online too.

Our range of cards offers something for everyone and includes the stunning 2013 East Anglian Air Ambulance nightflight themed card.

Most of the cards cost £3.50 with some at £4.00 for a pack of 10, which does not include postage and packing costs. The greetings inside are of a traditional nature such as Merry Christmas, Season’s Greetings or Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. If you would like to find out more please ring our fundraising office on 0845 066 9999 or contact your area fundraising office – details can be found on page 3.

Visit our charity shop Our charity shop in Ipswich is another place that will sell EAAA cards and merchandise in the run up to Christmas. It’s also always in need of donations of good quality items for sale.

Outlets selling EAAA Christmas cards As well as our own offices and our charity shop in Ipswich there will be a number of other special Christmas card shops selling our cards in the run up to the festive season.

These include the Cards for Good Causes shops at: Tourist Information Centre, Angel Hill, Bury St Edmunds Visitor Information Centre, Peas Hill, Cambridge All Saints Church, Market Hill, Huntingdon Tourist Information Centre, St Stephen’s Church, Ipswich The Stable, High Street, Newmarket The Forum, Millennium Plain, Norwich St John’s Church, Church Street, Peterborough Tourist Information Centre, High Street, Southwold Library, Milton Road, Stowmarket 9 Friars Street, Sudbury Cards may also be purchased at: Bedford Tourist Information Centre, Town Hall, St Paul’s Square; Tales of the Old Gaol House Museum, Saturday Market Place, King’s Lynn and the Original Christmas Card Charity Shop, Norwich (please phone 01603 269320 for further information about this shop.)

Unfortunately we are not able to collect items and if you are bringing in a large amount or making a special journey we advise you to telephone first to ensure there will be someone to receive them. The number is 07917 227081. The shop can be found at 2 Orwell Place, Ipswich.

Most of these shops open in early October.

As ‘Anglia Lift Off’ went to press we were awaiting exact opening dates and will publish these on our website as soon as we have them.

If you can spare some time to help at the shop then we’d also be very happy to hear from you. Please call our Suffolk fundraising office on 01473 745007.

We would like to thank everyone who purchases EAAA Christmas cards as this is a vital area of fundraising for us.

20 Lift off

Dates for your diary The following events are all raising funds for EAAA. Booking is strongly advised for all of them. Details of all our fundraising events and activities may also be found on our website – www.eaaa.org.uk.

Tuesday 1st October An Evening with Peter Purves, Martlesham Heath The former Blue Peter presenter and more recently known for his television coverage of the Crufts dog show will talk about his life and television career.

The event will take place at St Michael’s Church Centre, The Drift, Martlesham Heath at 7pm. Further information is available from our Suffolk fundraising team on 01473 745007.

Saturday 9th November Masquerade Dinner Dance, Norwich Sprowston Manor Hotel is once again the venue for this popular event. Tickets, priced at £35 each, include a sparkling wine reception and three course meal with dancing to music from Scratch the Cat. To book your tickets please contact our Norfolk fundraising team on 01603 489406.

Saturday 14th December Gala dinner, Cambridge

Current volunteer opportunities We are always happy to hear from anyone who can help by sparing a little of their time for the Charity. We have recently improved our volunteering programme with the appointment of a Volunteer Programme Development Manager (see page 10). Our current opportunities include: Event Fundraisers - across East Anglia We are looking for couples or small groups of friends who have their own transport and who can be self-sufficient to attend local events and represent EAAA independently of charity staff. There are so many opportunities for us to raise money in this way but we just can’t get round to them all without the help of volunteers. This role would require you to collect a gazebo, merchandise, collection buckets and banners from an EAAA office and transport these to the event.

You would need to be physically able to erect the gazebo with the help of another volunteer, set up the stand, run the stall and pack up at the end of the day. It’s a lovely opportunity to get out and about and meet people.

Fundraising Researchers – across East Anglia The support of people who are willing to research fundraising opportunities is really helpful in enabling us scope out extra sources of funding and support and also to analyse existing sources of income. You will need to be computer literate and able to use the internet.

Conference Coordinator EAAA is hosting its first Clinical Conference in May 2014. The event will attract clinicians from the UK and abroad. It will focus on developments in pre-hospital medicine and review the EAAA experience of providing the first dedicated HEMS air ambulance operating in hours of darkness. We expect to attract up to 300 delegates and to have an exhibition area. We are looking for someone with excellent sales and organisation skills to recruit up to 20 exhibitors, the income from which will be used to subsidise the delegate fee. You’ll aim to generate up to 300 delegates and maintain an Excel spreadsheet to ensure the smooth running of this event. You’ll be working under the direction of the Head of Communications and in collaboration with the Communications Team.

Flights of Fancy is our 2013 Christmas gala dinner to be held at St John’s College, Cambridge from 7pm.

Experience traditional Cambridge College dining in this stunning atmospheric setting. The evening will include a picture raffle with works by well-known artists, an auction of exclusive prizes hosted by John Foster of the Antiques Roadshow and a fabulous three course meal with musical accompaniment. For enquiries please telephone 01473 745007. Tickets are £85pp and places are limited so early booking is advised. Cheques should be made payable to East Anglian Air Ambulance and sent If you are interested in applying for any of these roles you to Cerys Shepherd, East Anglian can download a copy of our Volunteer Application Form from Air Ambulance, Whitehouse our website http://www.eaaa.org.uk/volunteer/ or to find Distribution Centre, Whitehouse out more contact Victoria Pank on 01603 269320 or email Road, Ipswich IP1 5NX. St John’s Colle victori.pank@eaaa.org.uk ge our gala dinn is the venue for er Lift off 21

Make a difference with a legacy gift Gifts in Wills are vital to the Charity, in fact one in four of the missions we fly is funded this way. A gift like this allows us to continue to develop our service, providing day and night critical care to those who need it most, now and in the future.

We recommend that anyone thinking of remembering the Charity in their Will should consult a solicitor before doing so, especially if it is the first time they have made a Will. From time to time, some firms of solicitors will make a donation to charity themselves when drawing up a Will.

We understand that family and loved ones come first when making your Will.

But if you then choose to leave a gift to the EAAA, no matter what the size, there are different ways in which you can do this. However you choose to remember the Charity you will be helping us save more lives in East Anglia for many years to come.

There is more information about leaving a gift in your Will to the Charity and what the types of bequest and other terms mean on our website in the ‘Support Us’ section. Alternatively our Trust and Legacy Fundraising Manager can be contacted on 01603 489405.

If you have mentioned EAAA in your Will and would like to let us know please be assured we would never ask about the size of the gift but we would like to be able to thank you for your support.

Could you give your time?

Our Trust and Legacy Fundraising Manager is looking for a volunteer who could offer their time and specialist knowledge. We would like to hear from someone who is likely to be a current or recently retired legal professional with a working knowledge of charitable legacies, probate and estates.

Gifts in Wills account for around one quarter of EAAA’s annual income and we are seeking the support of a skilled volunteer in the management of legacy income and its administration, to ensure we receive maximum benefit from this vital source of funding. This will include providing advice and review of ongoing legacy correspondence with legal advisors and executors, particularly in complex cases.

If you have these skills and could offer a few hours of your time to us please download a volunteer application form from the volunteer section of our website – www.eaaa.org.uk. If you would like to have a further chat about what this role may involve please contact Victoria Pank on 01603 269320.

22 Lift off

Pamela Jean Blair 1921-2012 A most generous and substantial gift to the Charity was received recently from the estate of supporter Pamela Blair who lived in Halesworth, Suffolk. Mrs Blair, who died at the r on he Pamela pictured first r he age of 91, left the wedding day to neles Pi d ar w Ed d residue of her an sb hu in 1943. estate to EAAA having supported the Charity during her life via a subscription to our lottery.

Trusts and Legacy Fundraising Manager Hannah Clay said: “Fortunately we had a considerable amount of information about Mrs Blair’s life from which it was clear that, post retirement, voluntary work, and support for charities generally, was something very close to her heart. She had set up a regular subscription for the air ambulance relatively late in life but she had always been very supportive of the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal and was a member of the Royal British Legion Women’s Section. During the Second World War she interrupted her medical studies to work with the British Red Cross, where she was involved in first aid and nursing.”

Hannah added: “I am most grateful to the family in the matter of the execution of their Mother’s Will and assure them that this generous gift will make an enormous difference to the lives of many people who need critical care at the scene of an emergency.”

Legacy Manag er studies docum Hannah Clay ents about M rs Blair’s life and charity suppo rt.

The Five Problems 1. Future Re-marriage Say a husband dies �rst and leaves everything to the wife. The wife then remarries and dies before the second husband. Her estate transfers to the second husband. He means to make a Will to put things right but does not get round to it and accordingly on his death the whole estate devolves to his children and the children of the original couple are disinherited.

2. Large Probate Fees Probate costs are often much higher than people expect. With fees from some solicitors often in tens of thousands of pounds, with a modest estate of £350,000 at a 3% charge the fees would be £10,500. Not only that, there is the inconvenience and normally substantial delay in administering someone’s estate especially on the second death.

3. Unreliable Children Unfortunately there are many clients who have children with problems, whether they be drug, alcohol or gambling problems or indeed children with unstable marriages. When the parent dies, it is therefore not advisable that a large proportion of the estate devolves to such children but, of course, that is what usually happens.

4. Incapacity If you �nd yourself in the position of incapacity due to in�ury or illness and have not nominated an attorney to take over your affairs, the only way forward is to apply to the Office of the Public Guardian, which can be costly and difficult for family to deal with.

5. Care Costs You may never have thought about long term care costs before or you may already know of someone who has been forced to sell the family home in order to pay for care fees. It may also be something you don’t want to think about, especially if you are in good health, but the statistics regarding long-term care make for sombre reading.

How does a Family Asset Protection Trust work?

Consider the Trust as a safety deposit box in which you place your house. Your trustees hold the keys but they only take their instructions from you, the settlor.

No one else can access the deposit box without your authority, not even the local authority. In fact as far as they are concerned, you no longer own your house.

The idea of the trust is to keep your home safely away from care fee assessment, future probate costs, problems if you become incapacitated or unreliable children, but not away from you.

setting up a Family Asset Protection Trust, Calll Heritage on 01603 894500 or Complete this reply slip To obtain your guide to the “Family Asset Protection Trust”, simply complete your details IN FULL, tear off the reply slip and post it to: Heritage Legal & Financial Ltd - 13 Hellesdon Park Road, Drayton High Road Norwich NR6 5DR

Name .......................................................................................................

Address ....................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................

Post Code .......................................................................................................

Telephone Number ....................................................................................................... *Telephone number must be included

We guarantee your details will never be used by third parties or sold on to any other organisations; we respect your right to privacy.

CHRISTMAS PARTIES at Elveden Courtyard

Gifts | Decorations | Food | Christmas Trees | Hampers | Parties & Events

Whether gathering with friends, family or colleagues, our AA Rosette Restaurant with decorated marquee is the perfect venue. We can cater for parties from 4 to 120.

Madison join us this year, a five piece band performing classic hits from disco and soul to funk and rock ballads. Every Friday and Saturday night throughout December, they will provide an unforgettable evening of entertainment to get you into the festive spirit while you enjoy a delicious 3 course meal! £34.95pp We also have a lunch menu for your festive celebrations, with prices starting at £16.95pp for 2 courses.

MADISON DATES: Friday 6th December, Saturday 7th December , Friday 13th December, Saturday 14th December, Friday 20th December, Saturday 21st December Lunch and evening menus are available to view online www.elveden.com | Bookings or information: 01842 898066