7 Dec 2018
London Freemasons have presented London’s Air Ambulance with a surprise cheque for £100,000 at a lunch to thank them for their contributions to our second helicopter.
Back in March 2015, London Freemasons pledged £2 million towards ‘Your London, Your Helicopter campaign’ to help us purchase a second helicopter for London. Thanks to the individual fundraising efforts of the organisation’s 40,000 members from 1,350 lodges across the capital, the full amount was raised within 18 months and London now has the resilience of a second emergency medical helicopter.
The campaign captured the hearts and imaginations of London Freemasons and, even once the £2 million was reached, the members continued to raise money. As a result, an additional £100,000 donation was presented to our Chairman Mark Vickers by the Metropolitan Grand Master Sir Michael Snyder during a thank you lunch organised by the charity.
Charles Newitt, Interim CEO of London’s Air Ambulance who also attended the lunch, said:
“The support of the London Freemasons has been instrumental in allowing us to acquire a second helicopter and keep it in the air for the next five years. This additional donation comes as a complete surprise; we are extremely touched that our campaign has inspired London Freemason’s members to go above and beyond their original pledge.
We rely on donations to keep our service running and this money will help us reach more patients and save more lives.”
Our charity’s second helicopter (G-LNDN) has now been operational for just over a year. Since we acquired G-LNDN, the operational availability of a helicopter over London has increased from 83% to 98.6%, allowing us to get to more critically injured people more quickly.