29.01.07 - Magna residents help angels of the South West

Members of Magna’s Northern Area Residents’ Panel did their bit for another local charity this weekend. 

Representatives from the Panel and staff from Magna Housing Association visited Henstridge Airfield to present a donation of £500 to the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.

The donation comes from Magna’s community initiative fund which is administered by the panel of residents for community projects and sometimes charities that they feel would be to the benefit of Magna residents.

This was a well timed donation with Richard ‘the Hamster’ Hammond, making his come back to regular TV, on BBC2’s car review and speed demon show, TopGear.  Richard returned to our screens after being badly injured while filming for TopGear last year in a jet propelled car.  Richard was rushed to hospital using the local air ambulance crew and it is likely that their prompt attention had a positive impact on his recovery.

Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance can be airborne in two minutes of receiving an emergency call and can reach pretty much anywhere across the two counties in under nineteen minutes.  It can fly up to 140mph and carries a pilot and up to two paramedics and two patients.  Unfortunately, all this comes at a cost, with a need for in excess of £3,000 per day to keep it running.

Chairman of the Residents’ Panel, Brian Bloomfield, handed over the cheque to pilot JC Woods and paramedic Steve Freeman.  Brian says, “The Panel felt that this is a very worthy charity and we can only imagine how difficult it must be to raise the funds they need to keep such an essential service going.  We’re not aware of any Magna residents who have been rescued by the air ambulance as yet, but you never know when it might be needed.”

Magna’s residents’ panels receive a fund of £150,000 per year, to administer and allocate to projects that they feel benefit Magna residents in the community.  Suggestions for future community initiative projects are always welcome and can be forwarded to the residents’ panels through Magna on 01305 214044.

 

 

 

Last updated 01.02.07