Portishead Rotary Club raise vital funds to support children’s charity

Portishead Rotary Club have raised vital funds for the Children’s Air Ambulance (TCAA) to support the charity’s lifesaving missions as it celebrates 10 years of dedicated service.

Tim Mason, President of the Portishead Rotary Club chose the Children’s Air Ambulance as the rotary club’s charity of the year 2022-2023 and has helped to raise a total of £4,000 – enough to fund a lifesaving mission for a critically ill baby or child across the UK.

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.

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 25 March – the 25^th anniversary of the event, multiple teams swam in a relay for 35 minutes, swimming as many 25 metre lengths as they could.

“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,” said Tim Mason, President of Portishead Rotary Club.

“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,” he added.

Community Fundraising Executive for the children’s charity, Fiona Franklin, took part in the Swimathon along with five other swimmers and 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 Portishead Rotary Club, to be chosen as their charity of the year is really important to us.

“We receive no government or National Lottery funding, and without support from local communities and clubs such as this, we wouldn’t be able to continue making a difference to families across the UK,” she added.

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