Leicestershire youngster’s design becomes mascot for national lifesaving charity

A Leicestershire girl has been crowned the winner of a nationwide competition to design an official mascot for the Children’s Air Ambulance (TCAA).

Last year, the national children’s charity launched a competition to find the perfect mascot for #TheCrew – their club for children and young people – and with over 500 entries from across the country, nine-year-old Sienna Seyman’s design was chosen as the winner.

The Hinckley schoolgirl’s design of a yellow and green superhero bear with rotor blades on its back will be brought to life as the club’s official mascot and will help bring a new look and feel to the club itself.

“It feels incredible to win and I really can’t wait to have my design brought to life,” says Sienna.

“I chose my colours from the Air Ambulance helicopters and I thought that ‘Blade’ was a great name to represent the helicopter blades. I wanted to create a superhero look because the Children’s Air Ambulance save so many lives,” she adds.

The Children’s Air Ambulance – operated by The Air Ambulance Service – is a national service which is changing the face of paediatric and neonatal care through the high-speed transfer of critically ill babies and children – flying them from one hospital to another for specialist care.

Two clinically designed helicopters, based at Doncaster and Oxford, provide flying intensive care units and work with 10 NHS paediatric retrieval teams across the UK – including the ECMO team at Leicestershire’s Glenfield Hospital.

All transfers of critically ill babies and children carry an inherent risk – the longer a child is out of the hospital, the greater that risk – but the aircraft’s ability to fly approximately four times faster than land ambulance minimises travel times and risk.

Not only will Sienna’s design be showcased across the lifesaving charity, but she has also won a family theme park ticket and will get to visit one of the Children’s Air Ambulance bases when lockdown restrictions ease.

“I am so excited, and I can’t wait to see the helicopter base and meet the amazing crew,” exclaims Sienna.

Youth Development Manager for TCAA, Anoushka Brown says: “We are so happy to announce that Sienna is our competition winner, we think her design is fantastic and we are excited to see Blade as our official mascot for #TheCrew.

“It’s also great to see Sienna sign up to become a member of #TheCrew and hear the wonderful fundraising ideas she already has.”

As part of #TheCrew, children can learn about saving lives, helicopters, medicine, fundraising and how a charity works. The club offers advice and teaching on community work, volunteering, working as part of a team and supporting good causes – which form part of many school curriculums.

“It’s a brilliant club to get involved with and it is completely free to join and, once signed up, members will receive an awesome welcome pack,” adds Anoushka.

Incredibly proud of her daughter’s accomplishment for the national charity, Sienna’s mum Lorraine adds: “We’re all so proud of Sienna winning the Children’s Air Ambulance Mascot competition! She’s always been artistic and loves to design things, in fact, she wants to be a designer or architect when she grows up. She is very creative and always thinking of others with her kind, caring soul – she’s our shining star!”

To sign up to become a member of #TheCrew, please click here.