In My Spare Time....

What do you do in your spare time? Do you watch television? Play sports? Shop to you drop? Garry Froggatt, one of our esteemed volunteers, has written a poem about what he does in his spare time and we're sure you'll agree it's incredibly motivating and inspiring! To follow in Garry's footsteps and volunteer for The Air Ambulance Service in your spare time, please get in touch!

In My Spare Time

Wherever you are, wherever you may be,
You may be knocked down or crash into a tree,
You may fall off a horse,
Or wander off course,
But our helicopter will be there for thee.

Now flying one of these, isn’t cheap,
To help you get back on your feet,
So whilst you’re drinking your brew
Just think about our crew
Who’s rushing to their need.

But spare a thought about the money
That needs to be raised, whether rainy or sunny.
I can’t do tricks
And I’m rubbish at limericks,
And not very good at being funny

But in my spare time, I’ll run a stall
Selling pencils n pens, in a hall.
Your spare cash, you can chuck it
In my collection tin, or bucket
And make a difference, however small.

My Barking Mad Challenge: Part II

Last month we had a post from Jordan Sinclair, a past patient of ours who was preparing for the trip of the lifetime: a husky trek in order to raise money for our lifesaving cause. Jordan has now completed the trek and has blogged all about it! Enjoy....

You know you’re going somewhere remote when your first exchange with a local Norwegian at the airport is “People don’t go to Alta, people get sent to Alta.”

Joking aside, Alta is a fairly small community, well into the Arctic Circle. And we were leaving civilization behind altogether by venturing into the wilderness with 7 sleds and 32 Huskies.The cabins we stayed at varied in facilities - some had running water and electricity but at some, we had to keep a fire going for warmth and drill into a frozen lake for drinking water. It really did feel like we’d left the real world far behind.

On the first day, we were introduced to our dogs and shown how to harness them correctly to the sled. Before long, we were tearing across the snow, astounded at the dogs’ enthusiasm, strength and speed. They were as friendly as pet dogs and yet much hardier with a relentless attitude towards their work. They slept outside in the snow and pulled the sleds for hours on end without tiring. And each had an individual character. Whenever we hit an incline and they started to slow, we had to jump off and run with them or scoot to help them out. Leaving them to it was not an option - if we were slacking, the dogs would just stop and turn round to look at us. They don’t need the power of speech - it was easy to see what they were thinking!

But it wasn’t just a case of jumping on the sled in the morning, traveling for 5 or 6 hours, and then collapsing. We looked after the dogs’ every need before we settled down each night. Having no TV or internet meant that our group of 7 (including the expedition leader and trip doctor) really bonded over the course of the week.

I think the second day was the most physically demanding. Not because there were many hills (that day was actually quite flat), but because muscles I didn’t even know I had were aching. Despite all the training, everyone seemed to be feeling the strain. I don’t think I could’ve trained more, but think this was simply down to the fact that it’s a completely different type of exercise to running or cycling or swimming. That day, I really did have to make myself get off and run when the dogs needed a bit of extra help. But I kept reminding myself why I was doing it and kept going.

Lying in hospital with 12 broken ribs, I would never have thought that, 2 years on, I would be mushing my own team of Huskies across Norway. I can’t thank the WNAA (Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance) enough - I genuinely believe that they saved my life the day that I fell from that horse. I think it’s important to keep raising awareness and funds for the charity so that they can continue to save lives.

So that’s how I came to be stood on a sled in the North of Norway. It was tough at times but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and am grateful that I had so much support with raising money for the charity.

Read Jordan's rescue story.

Why I love my job...

.... By Fundraising Co-ordinator Faye Wilson.

Monday morning, look through my emails, there’s one from a school asking for an assembly, one from a WI group saying that they would like to make a donation, I’ve got a couple from my corporate supporters among the other usual emails that build up after a weekend. It’s already a good week when you’ve got people waiting in your inbox wanting to support the work that you and your charity are doing….certainly no Monday Morning blues here!!

In the evening I’m out at a networking event, it gives me a chance to talk to new people about the charity I work for – The Children’s Air Ambulance. We’re a new charity and we provide an air transfer service for critically ill children, it’s an interesting and exciting topic and one that people are quick to support and one they want to learn more about, I come away with some good new contacts and know that those people I’ve spoken to will go home and tell their families about the charity and the work we do.

Wednesday – today I spoke to new volunteers, people who have heard about us at a talk or read about us in the local paper, it’s fantastic speaking to people who are as passionate about a service as you are, people who have had experience of having to transfer their child & who know the difference an air transfer service will make to critically ill children, or people who have specific skills and are willing to put those to use for the charity. Again I’m meeting new people who want to help; again it’s a good day….no mid-week hump here!!

Thursday, I have a meeting set up with someone who wants to put on an event for us, the event will help us raise funds and awareness for the charity and sounds like a brilliant idea, I can’t wait to help organise and really look forward to being able to attend the event later on in the day. On Friday it’s time to catch up with other members of the team, we share contacts, things that have worked well or that haven’t and look at ways that we can work together to better promote The Children’s Air Ambulance as we build up to our launch in March.

It’s been a busy but typical week working as a Fundraiser for The Children’s Air Ambulance – so why do I love my job so much, well as you’ll have read I get to meet lots of different people, and the overwhelming response from the people I meet is ‘how can I help you’ and that’s the great thing about working for a charity like this – people want to help, it motivates me through those days when I’d really rather have an extra half an hour in bed and always puts a smile on my face.

So I guess the main reason I love my job is that I know I’m not doing it alone, I’m not even just doing it with my colleagues - I have students, businesses and community groups who are all helping too – and the thing we’re all striving to achieve is to help save young lives, and if you can log off at the end of the day knowing that you’re working towards that, well need you ask why I love my job?!

Find out more about how Love Is In The Air this Valentine's Day.