Stourbridge Ladies Society

Stourbridge Ladies Society met at the end of June to listen to the Speaker for the month Geoff Woodford. His topic was the Midland Air Ambulance. Mr Woodford has been a volunteer for 27 years with the Air Ambulance. He explained how the Air Ambulance had come into being and his role as a volunteer. It had all started with a meeting in a pub, £1 being the first donation to start the raising of money to form the charity to provide an Air Ambulance. The NHS Ambulance service had no money for funding so all money was to be raised by charity. Mr Woodford at that time was a radio ham who spread the word over the air ways, raising awareness and donations. The first helicopter was hired from a company in Aberdeen where it had been used as transport to the North Sea Oil Fields. A second helicopter was soon needed, again hired, but the third one has been purchased with the help of large donations. These helicopters are based at Cosford, Strensham and Tatenhill. Midlands Air Ambulance receives no government funding so is totally reliant on the public for its finances. Volunteers play a large part in raising the funds to maintain the service. In fact for some it is their way of saying thank you after being “customers” of the Air Ambulance. Mr Woodford was thanked for his interesting talk and given a donation for the Air Ambulance.