Staffordshire girl scales great heights for lifesaving charity

A Staffordshire girl has climbed the equivalent of the UK’s highest mountain in a bid to raise funds for the lifesaving Children’s Air Ambulance (TCAA).

The Children’s Air Ambulance is a national inter-hospital transfer service flying critically ill babies and children from one hospital to another for specialist care.

The charity relies on public donations from dedicated fundraisers – such as young Amelia Elkins-Shaw– to keep flying and saving lives.

With a passion to help the charity’s mission, the nine-year-old girl from Newcastle-under-Lyme took on the epic challenge of scaling the height of Ben Nevis on an indoor climbing wall.

“I chose the challenge because I love climbing and I wanted to do something good for such a wonderful charity which gets no funding,” expressed Amelia.

“The height of the indoor wall was 14 meters, so I had to climb it 100 times,” she added.

Amelia began her journey with the charity after signing up to be a member of #TheCrew – an exciting club for children linked to the lifesaving charity – and she has already accomplished her first fundraising challenge.

Amelia completed her challenge on the 23 July raising £1,000 – smashing her initial target of £500.

Commenting on her daughter’s accomplishment, Megan Elkins-Shaw said: “We are almighty proud of Amelia for coming up with the idea, and for raising the great amount she has.”

For her wonderful efforts, Amelia was visited by the charity’s mascot, Blade, along with TCAA Youth Development Manager, Anoushka Brown, who added:

“Amelia is an inspirational young girl with a big heart, it’s great to see her accomplish such a difficult and impressive challenge to help our vital charity.

“It’s wonderful to see her enjoying being a member of #TheCrew and it was a such special moment when she met Blade!”

Being a member of #TheCrew like Amelia, 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 is completely free to join and, once signed up, members will receive a fabulous welcome pack.

“I enjoy raising money for the charity because of the vital work they do, and I would encourage other children to take on a challenge too because they will be making a massive impact on the charity as every penny counts,” concluded Amelia.