JO Payne of the Children’s Air Ambulance was delighted to receive a cheque for £350 from Jimmy of Once Read Once Loved, when she recently visited Crediton.

Jimmy said: “Once again it pleases me to be able to inform our community that their support allows us to make a donation of £350 to the Children’s Air Ambulance.

“I personally had no idea they existed beyond the regular Air Ambulance until I spotted them on West Country News.

“Every pound you spend at Once Read helps us achieve donations like this.

“Thank you again Crediton, especially for your support on our return after lockdown."

The last 12 months have been the toughest in the history of the Children’s Air Ambulance service with donations falling by more than £2 million, yet the service of the charity is more in demand than ever before.

The two helicopters based in the north and south of Great Britain are

used to transport critically ill children and babies from areas including Devon and Cornwall to specialist centres and can mean the difference between life and death in more rural areas.

Jo explained: “The Children’s Air Ambulance is a paediatric intensive care transfer service. We convey critically ill children and babies from local and regional hospitals to specialist hospitals that have paediatric intensive care units.

“The nearest one to Crediton is Bristol. We are providing intensive care in the air by working with specialist clinical partner teams (CPTs).

“Ordinarily transfers are done by road ambulance but when time is a critical factor the CPTs call us.

“Children’s Air Ambulance is funded by donations so we were thrilled when Jimmy told us he wanted to support us.

“We would love more schools, organisations and companies in Devon to support us.”

Advances in technology are expensive and with each mission costing around £3,500, the charity relies on charitable donations which have dropped radically since the pandemic hit.

Jo added: "We’ve probably lost about £2.5 million in community fundraising because events haven’t been able to happen. It’s been very challenging for us.

"Individuals have obviously had to look really hard at where they give their charity money and hopefully people will continue to support us.

"It’s a vital service and we need the community support.

“We have also had a children’s book written for us all about the work of the charity, how we work with clinical partner teams across the country and our children’s activity club #TheCrew, Jimmy kindly agreed to stock the book called “Motorways in the Sky,” he is our first stockist in the Southwest!”

The 40-page hardback book, written by children’s author Stacey Turner and illustrated by Claire Spake, is available to purchase at Once Read in Crediton, priced at £5.99 and features some of the children who have flown in the Children’s Air Ambulance.

For more information about the work of the Children’s Air Ambulance visit: https://theairambulanceservice.org.uk/childrens-air-ambulance/ .