Proud to support the Pride of Cumbria II Air Ambulance

Here at Cranstons we donate a proportion of our profits each year to 4 vital local charities. David Law our production manager recently visited the Air Ambulance Base at Langwathby to present a donation cheque for £4350.

What was supposed to be a quick ‘photo session’ turned out to be a long chat during which David got a tour of the helicopter and all it’s technology.

Last year the Great North Air Ambulance Service attended over 1620 incidents- bringing critical care and pioneering technology, techniques and drugs to the scene. The average cost of a call out is approximately £4135 and the charity needs to raise almost seven million  pounds a year. Surprisingly they are not NHS funded and rely solely on the generosity of supporters.

David Law said: ‘It was so good to hear about the pioneering critical care service provided by the Air Ambulance team and to learn about their day to day responsibilities. The air ambulance is absolutely vital to Cumbrias rural communities and we all need to support it – they do an amazing job’.

Phil Lambert who has been a pilot with GNAAS since 2012 and prior to that, spent 23 years in the Army Air Corps was happy to tell David all about their  medium –weight twin –engine helicopter. He said ‘No other air ambulance charity in the UK operates these aircrafts – we are so lucky to have this air craft in Cumbria.’

David also had a chance to sit inside of the Pride of Cumbria II (G-NHAE) and was gobsmacked by the amount of buttons and different things in the cockpit. The aircraft can fly at speeds of up to 190mph and it takes only 14 min to fly from Penrith to Newcastle!

Lee Salmon, Paramedic and Head of Operations West said ‘We rely entirely on donations and couldn’t continue our work without our supporters so we are very grateful for Cranstons support.’

To read more about the GNAAS and other local charities Cranstons support click here – Community Support – Cranstons