Northamptonshire local to take on mammoth trek to raise funds for lifesaving children’s charity

Northamptonshire local, Poppy Lofting is taking on the Sahara Desert Trek to raise vital funds to support the lifesaving missions of the Children’s Air Ambulance (TCAA).

The five-day Sahara Desert Trek takes place in November 2024 and will cover a mammoth 100km, passing through Morocco’s forbidding landscape of valleys, gorges and sand dunes. The trek will also include climbing Jebel Lamrakeb before celebrating their achievements in Quarzazate.

Poppy will be taking on this epic trek with a target of raising £2,600 to support the lifesaving transfer missions of the Children’s Air Ambulance as she understands the need for the service having previously worked alongside the charity at Sloane Helicopters, the aircraft providers for the vital charity.

“I am an avid walker and am always up for a challenge. This event is a new and unusual challenge that I have never considered before, so I am really looking forward to the adventure while raising vital funds for the children’s charity,” said Poppy Lofting.

“I previously worked alongside the charity for Sloane Helicopters – in Sywell – as a Flight Operations Assistant and in my work there I liaised with the pilots on their missions and training schedules, as well as having the opportunity to see the engineers working on the impressive helicopters.

“This showed me just how important the lifesaving flights they carry out are, and without these missions many critically ill babies and children across the UK wouldn’t be able to receive the care they so desperately need,” she added.

The Children’s Air Ambulance is a national charity changing the face of paediatric and neonatal care through the high-speed transfer of critically ill babies and children – flying them from local hospitals to specialist paediatric and neonatal treatment centres via the clinically designed helicopters which provide a flying intensive care unit for babies and children.

The charity works alongside 11 NHS Clinical Partner Teams across the UK, including CoMET (Children’s Medical Emergency Transport), a specialised team made up of experienced doctors and nurses in Paediatric Intensive Care within the East Midlands area.

Morgan Turnbull, Junior Events Manager for the charity said:

“We would like to say a big thank you to Poppy for signing up to take on the Sahara Desert Trek challenge to raise vital funds to support our children’s charity.”

“We receive no government or National Lottery funding for our lifesaving missions and rely on the generosity of the local community to raise the £3,600 needed for each mission.”

“Each person that signs up to take on one of our challenge events will not only be achieving great personal milestones but will also be raising funds to support further lifesaving missions as well as keeping our helicopters operational,” she expressed.

You can support Poppy’s Sahara Desert Trek here: Poppy Lofting is fundraising for The Children’s Air Ambulance (justgiving.com)

To find out more about upcoming challenge events you can take on, please visit: https://events.theairambulanceservice.org.uk/events/

To learn more, or to support the charity, please visit: www.childrensairambulance.org.uk or call 0300 3045 999.