CREDITON Dairy, the leading producer of flavoured milk drinks, decided not to send Christmas cards this year and instead made donations to charity.

One of the charities to benefit from a cheque for £500 was Devon Air Ambulance (DAA).

The presentation of the cheque to DAA representative John Groves was made by Crediton Dairy employee Sarah McKnight, whose son Oliver, now 14, benefitted by being transported following a serious accident last year.

Sarah explained that in October Oliver had fallen 25 feet off a roof onto concrete, sustaining broken wrists, head and other injuries.

The accident happened near North Tawton and Sarah said that the Air Ambulance arrived within four minutes of being called and took just 12 minutes to take her son to hospital in Plymouth.

“The air ambulance was essential that day and without it it could have been a lot different”, said an emotional Sarah.

The presentation was made at Crediton Dairy’s Church Lane, Crediton, dairy and distribution centre.

Mr Groves thanked the Dairy for the donation and explained that the speed with which the air ambulances were able to get to and from an incident and to take a person to the required hospital urgently was a strength of the service.

Philip Gater, HR Business Partner, Crediton Dairy, said the Dairy was also pleased to have been able to make £500 donations to three other charities, Crediton Food Bank, Crediton Age Concern and Farming Community Network.

Crediton Dairy employs more than 100 staff at its modern dairy in the town and sources milk from more than 60 local dairy farmers.

It is one of the UK’s leading dairy drinks businesses producing a comprehensive range of flavoured, functional and fortified chilled milk drinks, as well as long-life milks and creams.