Members of the Ross-on-Wye Country Music Club presented £700 to the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity on Saturday, April 30th. The club meets on the last Saturday of every month, and the money was raised during these sessions.

The cheque was given to Mary Seldon, the regional fundraising manager for Herefordshire. Mary thanked the members for the amount they had raised. She said since the charity was formed 25 years ago, in 1991, 43,000 people had been rescued, but the charity does not receive any funding from the government, so they are completely reliant on the generosity of local people.

She added that every time the air ambulance takes off, it costs £2,500. There are three air ambulances, and each fly for 12 hours a day, at different times, flying until 9pm each day, seven days a week.

Mary told the Ross Gazette that the Air Ambulance was a vital service, that has saved the lives of several local people. In February, the Air Ambulance was called to the A40 in Ross, after a woman in her 60s, sustained severe injuries in a road traffic collision, and she was taken to Southmead Hospital in Bristol, via air ambulance. The woman, who got in touch with the Gazette after the incident, said that she was grateful to the Air Ambulance crew for taking such good care of her during the flight.