Air Ambulance Christmas Draw raises £57,000

WILTSHIRE Air Ambulance has said a big thank you to everyone who supported its 2016 Grand Christmas Draw and raised a total of £57,210.

£45,171 was made from raffle tickets, as well as additional donations of £5,921 towards the charity’s day-to-day operations. There was also an option for players to make additional donations for the Airbase Appeal, to complete the funding for the new airbase at Semington, and this amounted to £6,118. The top prize of £3,000 was won by Robert South of Salisbury.

Mr South, 83, already supports Wiltshire Air Ambulance by playing its Lottery and has taken part in the charity’s Christmas draw on a previous occasion. He said, “I couldn’t believe it when I was told I had won the Christmas draw, it was a nice surprise. I support Wiltshire Air Ambulance because it’s a wonderful organisation, particularly for the Salisbury area where I live. The air ambulance can get to and transport patients to hospital quickly and can be lifesaving. We are privileged in Wiltshire to have our own helicopter as an air ambulance rather than sharing a helicopter with Wiltshire Police.”

Rebecca de la Bedoyere, at the Air Ambulance said, “We would like to thank everyone who took part in our Christmas Draw and congratulate the lucky winners. We are also very grateful to members of the public who not only bought tickets but sent in additional donations towards both our essential running costs and our Airbase Appeal. The amount of donations we received surpassed all previous raffles.

“We are incredibly fortunate to receive such generous support from the people of Wiltshire. The annual draw is a vital source of income for us and every ticket sold helps ensure we can keep our lifesaving aircraft and crew flying.”