Spotlighting our 2023 fundraisers on the twelfth day of Christmas

Over the 12 days of Christmas, Great Western Air Ambulance Charity’s (GWAAC) social media platforms have reflected on our year as a charity, with each day representing a month of the year. Instead of using the twelfth day to reflect on our December, we decided to use it to highlight some of the amazing people who achieved even more amazing things to help keep us flying.

Will Hicks

In February, Will Hicks unfortunately lost his dad after he suffered a cardiac arrest. Our crew attended, treated his dad and took him to the Bristol Royal Infirmary. However, he sadly passed away a few days later. Inspired by the work of our crew that day, Will decided to challenge himself and run the London Marathon dressed as a helicopter, which he did in April! He raised a whopping £23,000 for GWAAC in the process too!

Team Velocity – World Flight

As they have in previous years, November saw the amazing Team Velocity raise an incredible amount of money for GWAAC as they once again took on the World Flight challenge. The challenge consists of the team flying constantly for a week in a flight simulator whilst streaming live on Twitch. This year, the team gained amazing media coverage for their work and raised a whopping £6,700.

Mud Master

For a second year in a row, we were a proud beneficiary of the Lions of Weston-super-Mare’s annual Mud Master event, held at Puxton Park in North Somerset. Participants got down and dirty on the 5km, 10km or 20km mud-covered obstacle course, including a 14-member team of GWAAC Charity Staff. The cold and muddy morning was an incredibly fun event and raised £1,000 for GWAAC.

Bath Motor Festival

GWAAC were delighted to be chosen as a beneficiary at Bath Rotary Festival of Motoring 2023. Staff, volunteers and crew members joined classic cars exhibitors, musicians and traders at the festival, which took place in June at Walcot Rugby Club, Lansdown. Local support from businesses, excellent coordination and good public attendance resulted in a bumper year with the festival’s donation to GWAAC reaching a record breaking £14,000!

Tetbury Bingo Buddies

The amazing Tetbury Bingo Buddies, led by Marion and Val, have supported GWAAC for more than seven years with car boot and online sales, a stall at the Tetbury Market Hall and much, much more! In 2023 alone they raised more than £15,000, taking their total amount raised to over £60,000 - which is beyond incredible!

Colesbourne Snowdrops

Last year GWAAC and a small army of volunteers, including former patient Jasmine and her family, hosted the Tea Rooms for a weekend at “England’s greatest snowdrop garden”, raising over £4,000 and having lots of fun in the process. In 2024 we will be back at Colesbourne Gardens in Gloucestershire! Please come and visit us on 10 and 11 February and sample the rather delicious homemade cake on offer and see the most gorgeous display of snowdrops, hellebores and cyclamen.

Yate and Chipping Sodbury Good Afternoon Choir

We’re incredibly grateful to have had the support of the Yate and Chipping Sodbury Good Afternoon Choir again in 2023, after a brilliant year of fundraising in 2022. This wonderful choir continue to exceed expectations. They raised over £3,000 in 2023, and delighted volunteers and staff with their laughter, support and wonderful songs at events such as our Forever Flying in-memory service.

Colin Coombes

In the summer, we reported on the amazing fundraising efforts of Colin Coombes, who hit the milestone of raising over £10,000 across a ten-year period through his infamous music nights, which see him perform to audiences all over Bath and North East Somerset. Since then, Colin has continued to entertain and fundraise for his local air ambulance.

These are just a handful of the amazing people and events that have helped keep us in the air in 2023 and beyond. We are so appreciative and thankful of every single person who supports our work and we can’t wait to see the fun and unique ways that people choose to support us in 2024.