Support for lifesaving national children’s charity continues to grow

Since 2020, The Growth Community has been a dedicated partner of the Children’s Air Ambulance (TCAA), and to-date have raised an incredible £27,000 to support the lifesaving children’s charity.

The Growth Community is a networking community across South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, North Nottinghamshire, and the East Riding that runs friendly and productive meetings which help small businesses gain support, knowledge, and new opportunities – as well as supporting each other’s success.

This year The Growth Community have been trying to raise a further £7,000 collectively to support the charity’s lifesaving missions for critically ill babies and children, with #TeamBarnsley, made up of fourteen team members, aiming to raise £1,500 of this total.

On Sunday 19 November, 3 members of #TeamBarnsley; Simon Pendlebury, Lewis Totty and Alexander Roberts and others from The Growth Community, alongside a friend, Tom Humphreys took part in a challenging 45-mile bike ride from Barnsley Business Centre to Gamston Airport – the new home of one of the charity’s helicopters, carrying state-of-the-art medical equipment onboard.

The team managed to bike the distance in under four hours, even livestreaming while they cycled, and with Adam Farrell driving behind the group to keep them motivated along the way.

Together, #TeamBarnsley have managed to raise £1,440 towards their £1,500 target with the bike ride, coffee mornings, step challenges, speed networking, raffles, collection tins and bucket collections.

“We decided to support this lifesaving charity as they don’t receive any government or National Lottery funding to keep their helicopters flying. Without this vital service their high-speed transfers taking critically ill babies and children from one hospital to another to receive specialist care wouldn’t be possible,” said Simon Pendlebury, MD at Sierra Alpha Logistics.

The Children’s Air Ambulance is 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 national charity receives no government or NHS funding so partnerships with local community teams such as this provide vital support to ensure the lifesaving service can remain operational.

Children’s Air Ambulance Assistant, Cherry Crane, said:

“We would like to thank everyone who took part and supported the challenging bike ride from Barnsley Business Centre to our Gamston Airbase to help raise vital funds to support our children’s charity.

“Without support like theirs from local communities and businesses we wouldn’t be able to continue our vital high-speed missions – saving the lives of critically ill babies and children across the UK.”

You can still donate to support The Growth Community’s bike ride, please visit their JustGiving page – https://www.justgiving.com/page/teambarnsley

The charity is celebrating its 10^th anniversary of providing lifesaving high-speed transfers for critically ill babies and children in 2023. To help the charity mark this momentous milestone and support it so its lifesaving missions can continue, why not visit a charity store and grab a bargain, donate preloved items, host a clothing bank, get involved in a challenge event, fundraise, make a one-off donation, or even sign up to volunteer. Your support will help to keep hope alive for patients and their families.

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