Sunday Sun appeal to raise £1m for air ambulance

Nov 8 2009 Sunday Sun

TODAY your Sunday Sun launches a major campaign to keep hope in the skies by buying the Great North Air Ambulance its own life-saving helicopter.

We want to help raise the £1m needed to make sure this vital service, which doesn’t receive a penny from the Government or from Camelot, continues saving lives for years to come.

Until now the charity, which relies solely on donations from you the public, has always leased its aircraft, but by buying its own helicopter for the first time the GNAA will be able to . . .

:: Save even more lives and ease more pain and suffering

:: Ensure the safety of the charity for years to come

:: Maintain its position as the best Air Ambulance in the country

:: Make certain the region never finds itself without the safety net when its other aircraft require repairs, and

:: Make the public donations it relies on go even further.

The heroic work of the GNAA is in no doubt.

And, starting here and continuing on the following two pages you will find six reasons why it is vital this service is retained and improved.

To look at them now it is difficult to believe these smiling faces have all come so close to a potential tragedy.

But all six suffered major trauma in separate and horrific accidents.

And all firmly believe the Great North Air Ambulance saved their lives and eased their pain.

Each have thrown their weight behind our Sunday Sun Air Angels campaign . . . to raise £1m by early in the new year.

Sunday Sun editor Colin Patterson is no stranger to the service, after being treated by their paramedics following a serious footballing injury.

He said: "The Sunday Sun is proud to launch the Air Angel campaign and support the bid to raise £1m for the purchase of a helicopter.

"Having had personal experience of being airlifted in one of the North’s air ambulances, I fully realise the valuable contribution and support they lend to the emergency services of the region.

"Sunday Sun readers are always keen to lend their backing to a worthwhile cause and I am sure they will realise the importance of this one in particular.

"No one knows when a member of their own family, a friend or they themselves might need to take advantage of the service.

"The air ambulance offers a fast and efficient live-saving service in particularly difficult circumstances when traditional emergency teams might be hampered.

"I am sure readers across the region will once again rise to the challenge. When we have appealed for their help they have always come through"