Midlands Air Ambulance

Every year, Rolling Hills Harley Owner Group Chapter, the oldest in Europe and that to which I belong, nominates and charity.  Funds are raised through raffles at our monthly Club Night and any other specially organised events.  Last year, we raised £3,000.  Arrangements were made for us to visit the northern one of the two Midlands Air Ambulance at Tatenhill, near Lichfield in Staffordshire on Sun 27th May, to see the workings of the service we support.  There was always the risk that it might not be there, but we were lucky, just!  First, some pictures taken by pillion Agnes behind us in the pack, from our website:

That's us, on the left.

Taken across my handlebars.

Arriving, I am left of centre at the back, Jean already having dismounted.

We rode a fairly direct route to the airfield, which includes fixed wing light aircraft, for midday.  We were a few minutes late, but just in time to see the crew boarding and the helicopter being readied for take-off to respond to a cyclist in trouble near Cannock.  

Being the last to park, I just managed to stop the engine and grab my camera for a couple of pictures from the bike, then hop off and get a couple more before it was gone:

Jean talks to Julie.

The Midlands Air Ambulance is the only Charity responsible for funding and operating three Air Ambulances serving the communities of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands. This constitutes the largest air ambulance operating region in the UK.  It needs £6m/year to operate and we are glad to support it, one of our Chapter riders requiring its service a couple of years ago, thankfully helping his full recovery.  They have made several presentations to us at Club Night.

Lorna and Scott were staying over the weekend so we had to head back for a BBQ in the fine summer weather, and show them the few pictures and Jean's video of the visit.  They are paramedics in London and Scott's is a HEMS paramedic for their Air Ambulance, so there was a special interest.

It was also a good opportunity for Jean to join me on the back of the new bike for the first time and all went well as a precursor to Portugal next week!  And, the BBQ also went well.