PORTISHEAD Rotary Club have raised significant funds for the Children’s Air Ambulance (TCAA) to support the charity’s vital missions, Sara Badran writes.

The TCAA is celebrating 10 years of dedicated service and commitment to helping young people in critical condition receive the life-saving treatment they need as promptly and as safely as possible. 

President of the Portishead Rotary Club, Tim Mason, chose TCAA as the Rotary Club’s charity of the year 2022-3 and has helped raise a total of £4,000 – enough to fund an urgent mission for a critically ill baby or child across the UK.

With each mission costing approximately £3,500 and no direct funding from the Government or the National Lottery, TCAA relies almost entirely on voluntary donations to fund their crucial work.

Tim said: “It is incredibly rewarding to know that every penny we have raised will go towards saving the lives of critically ill babies and children across the UK, and what a worthy cause it is.” 

The National Children’s Air Ambulance provides the only intensive care helicopters in the country dedicated to transferring critically ill babies and children across the UK, at a high and safe speed, from local hospitals to specialist paediatric and neonatal treatment centres.

With each helicopter flying at up to 185mph, a helicopter rescue is approximately four times quicker than road rescue services – which could be the difference between life and death. 

The Portishead Rotary Club raised the funds in a variety of ways including bucket collections, attending local events, a barn dance, and their largest event of all was a swimathon.

The swimathon was held at Parish Wharf Leisure Centre on March 25. Multiple teams swam in relay for 35 minutes, swimming as many 25 metre lengths as they could. 

Community Fundraising executive for the children’s charity, Fiona Franklin, took part in the swimathon, along with five other swimmers.

She said: “The swimathon was a great event and we are looking forward to entering a team again next year.

"We would like to say a big thank you to Tim Mason and everyone involved in the Portishead Rotary Club, to be chosen as their charity of the year is really important to us…without the support from local communities and clubs such as this, we wouldn’t be able to continue making a difference to families across the UK.”

Tim praised his club and all participants. He said:: “Everyone involved in the Rotary Club is so hard working and we wouldn’t have been able to raise the amount of funds we did without them all.”