A GRANT of £4,000 to the Midlands Air Ambulance from Herefordshire Freemasons has brought the total Masonic support given to air ambulances across the country to £2.1 million in the past ten years.

A presentation was made at Strensham air base jointly with the Provinces of Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, totalling £12,000from the three. The grant, via the Masonic Charitable Foundation, is funded by Freemasons and their families across England and Wales.

The Midlands Air Ambulance covers the widest area of any in the country, including Herefordshire. It responds to an average of 2,000 missions each year, 21% of which are in Herefordshire and Worcestershire - 32% of these calls are to road traffic accidents and 26% to medical emergencies such as heart attacks and strokes.

Across the whole region there are up to three calls involving horse riders each week, and the service attends children on average once every four days.

Each mission costs around £2,500, and the total annual cost for the region is over £7 million, when all the outgoings are taken into account. A life pack, which includes heart monitor, defibrillator, oxygen etc costs £15,000, and a ventilator £4,000. The service is entirely reliant on charitable funding, with no financial support from Government or the National Lottery.

Receiving the donation from the Deputy Provincial Grand Master, Mike Roff, Herefordshire fundraiser Mary Seldon thanked the Freemasons of Herefordshire and across the region for their continued support and generosity.