WILTSHIRE Air Ambulance’s Airbase Appeal has benefitted from a donation of over £1,000 thanks to staff and customers from a Derry Hill Pub.

Manager of the Lansdowne Arms John Chipping visited the current HQ of the Air Ambulance with his wife Rebecca and daughter Zoe to hand over a check for £1,349, raised through charity events held at the pub over the past year.

Events included regular quiz nights, raffles and auctions, and the annual sausage and cider festival as part of the Derry Hill Fete.

Mr Chipping, a former retained firefighter decided to raise money for the Airbase Appeal as he knew first-hand how much hard work went into everything they do, having worked alongside the crews on emergency incidents.

He said: "It is brilliant, my target for the year was £1,000 so to get over that was amazing. I had help from the local people of Derry Hill, Calne and Chippenham.

"I wanted to show appreciation for the work they do as I know it is a much needed service.

"Each year we do a sausage and cider festival which coincides with Derry Hill Fete.

"It get's great support from a lot of suppliers and local people.

"Last year Walter Rose & Son butchers donated 200 sausages and Arthur David donated 200 sausage buns.

"All of the money we made off the sausages went to Wiltshire Air Ambulance."

Cas Loudon, donor relationship coordinator at Wiltshire Air Ambulance, said: “We’re so grateful to John and Rebecca and their customers at the Lansdowne Arms pub for supporting our Airbase Appeal.

“They held a number of fun events over the last 12 months and we heard that the sausages at their annual festival were very popular and sold out quickly.

“We were delighted to meet John, Rebecca and Zoe and show them round our helicopter at our current Operations Centre in Devizes when they came to present their cheque.

“The amount raised by the Lansdowne Arms is outstanding and will go towards the building and equipping of our new airbase at Semington, near Melksham.

“The new airbase will secure our future and enable us to continue saving lives into the future.”

Construction work on the new airbase at Outmarsh Farm, Semington is close to being completed, and once the building is fit, it will be operational in the summer.