8 Oct 2020
This year has seen many fundraising activities and events cancelled or postponed, but that has not stopped our amazing supporters from finding ways to raise much needed funds for our charity. From virtual bucket collections to innovative ways of completing or reinventing challenge events, our supporters have found ways to help us in these unprecedented times
Unfortunately our annual Helipad Abseil event had to be postponed this year due to the rise in Covid19 cases. Lucy Murphy, who is part of our team of brave participants, decided to walk 12 miles on the day she should have been abseiling, which is the distance from her home to the Royal London where her father was treated after a serious accident.
"My Dad was treated in the Trauma Unit at The Royal London for 10 days and has spent the last year recovering. It was an incredibly traumatic time for us as a family and when I saw this challenge, it was perfect combining London’s Air Ambulance and at the Royal London! I was disappointed when the abseil was postponed as I had such personal reasons for doing it however, if 2020 has taught me anything it’s to look for opportunity and find silver linings where we can”
When the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 was cancelled in August, that didn’t stop riders Warren Kidson and Michael Whitwell from setting their own challenge of riding 100km. The colleagues, who work for one of our corporate partners Mountford Pigott LLP, raised over £1,000.
"We chose to support London’s Air Ambulance Charity because in June 2018 the retired Senior Partner of the firm was attended to by London’s Air Ambulance after a serious cycling accident.
Following all the preparation and training we had done for the event we were determined to find a way of raising funds for the charity. We decided to ride the Surrey loop of the RideLondon route from Kingston through the Surrey Hills taking in all the climbs and returning back to Kingston totalling 100km, but the challenge now was to complete this route in 3hrs 30min and we managed 3hrs 27min!!”
But it hasn’t just been our challenge events that have been affected, hundreds of community fundraising events and activities have been impacted too.
Natasha Barnes, mother of patient Tyler Roye, who tragically died in a road traffic collision in 2019 aged just 18, had planned a family fun day and car meet in July 2020 to mark the anniversary of his passing and to fundraise in his memory. When lockdown was announced, and it became apparent that the event wouldn’t be able to go ahead, she altered her plans and organised a social distanced in-memory car convoy/drive out to allow friends and family to remember her son.
#TeamTyler merchandise was produced and sold to raise funds, while a raffle was also held. These fundraising activities, in addition to the many generous donations (including matched funding of £500 from Seacon), helped Natasha and her family to raise an incredible £2,600 for our charity, achieving their goal of raising the average cost of a mission.
Thanks to the efforts of these supporters and many more like them, we have been able to continue raising vital funds, but we need to keep going. We’re already certain that the effects of Covid-19 on our fundraising activities will cost us literally millions of pounds.
When London calls, we respond fast. But to keep flying and saving lives, we have to keep fundraising. If you have a fundraising idea that you would like to discuss please get in touch by emailing [email protected] / 0203 023 3303.
