Barcud off to flying start for Wales Air Ambulance

Barcud has launched a year of fundraising in aid of Wales Air Ambulance, coinciding with the charity’s 25^thanniversary which relies entirely on public donations to keep both the rapid response vehicles and helicopters running.

The Barcud group is based in mid and west Wales with a 300-strong workforce and 4,500 tenants. The group is based in Newtown and comprises Barcud Housing Association, together with Care and Repair in Powys, The Care Society and EOM.

This is Barcud’s first year of fundraising for a specific charity and at the annual colleague conference last winter the majority were in favour of supporting a charity, that, like Barcud, helped and supported those living rurally.

Jason Jones, Barcud Group Chief Executive, said: “Everyone we speak to knows someone who has been helped by the Wales Air Ambulance Service. I hope my internal colleagues, tenants, as well as friends and families will help us raise as much money as possible through collections and events for this extremely worthy cause. It would be amazing if we aimed sky-high and raise more than our £5,000 target.”

Barcud got its fundraising off to a ‘treacherous’ start recently with a fantastic take on the BBC’s ‘Traitors’ which raised £135 and the Board raised funds with a fun raffle. A variety of fundraising events have been organised including Coffee & Cake events in all offices in Newtown, Aberystwyth and Lampeter on April 15 and 10 colleagues will be running Cardiff Half Marathon in October.

Emily Bell from the fundraising team at Wales Air Ambulance said: “Wales Air Ambulance is funded by the people of Wales; we rely entirely on the public’s support to help keep the helicopters flying.

“The charity does not receive direct funding from the government and we also fail to qualify for National Lottery funding. The money is therefore raised through charitable donations, fundraising events and membership of our in-house Lifesaving Lottery. We are grateful to Barcud for choosing to support us for 12 months.”

Any donations to support Barcud and help reach the fundraising target of £5,000 can be made through https://cardiffhalf26.enthuse.com/pf/barcud.