A group of young farmers have raised over £20,000 for the Great North Air Ambulance – and have set their sights on a £30,000 target for the charity.
Drigg Young Farmers are getting ready to pull a replica helicopter 77 miles from their village to Langwathby, the air ambulance’s base, later this month.
The helicopter has been made by one of the group’s advisory members, who spent around four months transforming a car, using a range of materials and pain, into the replica air ambulance.
Their initial target was £10,000 but they have quickly surpassed it and now want to raise £30,000.
Group members were invited to Whitehaven Rugby League Club yesterday to carry out a bucket collection during the side’s clash with Swinton Lions.
They pulled the replica helicopter – Welly the Heli – to the ground.
They raised £965 and after the match, Whitehaven’s Lee Butterworth said: “We invited the young farmers down to the ground after seeing them at Muncaster Castle on another fundraising outing and we admired their commitment.
“All of their collectors did a great job, and we were more than happy to help out towards their amazing target for a great cause.
“I actually passed them on the St Bees back roads after the game, and I have to admit that pulling the helicopter looked like very hard graft, so hats off to them. We also would like to thank our own amazing supporters for making their donations to the total and the Great North Air Ambulance.”
Rosie Pratt, 21, chair of the young farmers group, told Cumbria Crack earlier this year: “Everyone is absolutely buzzing about it and the younger ones are really keen because they’ve never done anything like it before.
“I know a lot of the community are excited to see it happen as well.”
The cost to source, transport and transform the car into a replica helicopter were supported by the Fawcett families, Colin W Parker Ltd Haulage, Holt motorcycles and Thomas Graham & Sons.
Rosie said the group is hoping to see over 50 people take part in the pull with ages ranging from 10 years old-plus.
She added that the club’s decision to choose the Great North Air Ambulance Service came from seeing how the service had helped loved ones and friends over the years.
She said: “This year it’s my year as chairman and we went through at the start of year what we wanted to do as a club in a committee meeting.
“We decided that it’s been a while since the club has done a big fundraiser because we’ve done big things in the past like a tractor push from Broughton to Whitehaven, so we wanted to do something else like that.
“It was a lot of the younger members who said they wanted to do something for the Great North Air Ambulance in the first place.
“But we know a lot of people who have used the service throughout their lives for many different reasons and we just thought it was a good way to give back to the service which needs funds because they don’t get anything from the Government.”
