Bonhams is hosting a Valuation Day in aid of Midlands Air Ambulance.

The world famous auctioneers are inviting people to bring their antiques and fine arts to the Town Hall in Cheltenham on Wednesday 28th July between 10.00 am and 3.30 pm for valuation by a panel of experts.

Leading the event will be The Antiques Road Show’s very own Henry Sandon, MBE, a notable authority on ceramics and glass.

Other experts include Adam Wahby who will be valuing pictures, Helen Murray who will be inspecting silver and jewellery and Gerry Berwyn Jones who will advise on clocks, works of art and miscellaneous items.

Annie Newell, Fund Raising Manager for Midlands Air Ambulance says “This is a great chance for people to find out the true value of their hidden treasures. Hopefully there will be some great surprises on the day and someone will find out that what they thought was old tat is actually worth hundreds!”

Valuations will be charged at £2 per item or 3 items for £5. All money from the valuations will be donated to Midlands Air Ambulance.

It is requested that members of the public do not bring large furniture, stamps and coins to the Valuation Day.

Midlands Air Ambulance is launching a life-saving CRASH card for bikers in the Midlands this week.

The CRASH card provides emergency personnel with vital information needed to treat a patient including name, date of birth, medication and medical history.

Carried within the lining of a biker’s helmet, paramedics are alerted to the existence of the CRASH card by a small green dot on the side of the visor.

The card has been created by members of Midlands Air Ambulance (MAA) and the national Ambulance Motorcycle Club and will be launched this weekend (Sunday 25th July) at MAA’s Bike 4 Life event which kicks off at 10am from the National Motorcycle Museum near Solihull.

The CRASH card has the support of West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS), West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) and West Midlands Police (WMP).

Paramedic Ian Burrell, chairman of the Ambulance Motorcycle Club, says: “This card is borne out of experience - it has been designed by serving paramedics who have been on both sides of an accident, as the injured rider or attending as medical help. If a biker is injured and unable to talk coherently because of concussion or having been knocked out, how does the ambulance crew find out who the patient is, what medication they take or their medical history?”

Funding for the cards has been provided by Premium Choice, a specialist bike insurer based in the Midlands and SP services, international supplier of medical, first aid, paramedic and emergency rescue equipment.

Stef Langford Brown, creator of the cards at Midlands Air Ambulance says: “The CRASH cards are a great way to provide emergency services with vital information about a patient. The first 60 minutes after an incident is critical to the outcome of the patient’s recovery so anything that reduces the time between incident and hospital is extremely worthwhile.”

A Wolverhampton local has put his best step forward and raised over £1,000 for Midlands Air Ambulance.

Achieving a life-long dream Darron Farley (aged 37) joined 30,000 runners in the London Marathon earlier this year.

Just beating his own aim of three hours and thirty minutes Darron completed the 26 miles in three hours, twenty nine minutes and eleven seconds.

Yesterday Darron was celebrating again as he handed over a cheque for £1450 to Midlands Air Ambulance at their Cosford Air Base.

“I’ve always wanted to take part in the London Marathon and it certainly lived up to my expectations! It was such a good experience and I’m pleased to say that all my training paid off” says marathon man Darron.

“To run for Midlands Air Ambulance made it even more special. The Charity airlifted a friend I used to work with who sadly lost his life in a cycling accident a few years ago. I decided I wanted to run in his memory and also raise money for a Charity which I know saves so many lives every year.”

By asking friends and family to sponsor him Darron (a Moog Aviation employee at Pendiford) raised the terrific amount whilst taking in the sights of Big Ben and Buckingham Palace on the 25th April 2010.

Barton’s sixth annual Steam Rally was held earlier this month in aid of Midlands Air Ambulance.

On Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th July twelve full size and seven miniature steam engines rolled into Needwood Rise Farm in Barton Gate, Barton Under Needwood.

The Steam Rally also featured local crafts and artwork, fairground rides, food stalls, displays of tractors and old cars, live entertainment and working demonstrations.

From 11am arena events included displays by Bernese Mountain dogs, live shows by working steam engines and the skilful art of tractor balancing / a balancing act involving a number of tractors and a wooden plank!

For the past four years the Steam Rally has raised money for Midlands Air Ambulance resulting in £3350 being donated to the Charity, as well as a considerable amount to other selected charities.

Midlands Air Ambulance hopes that everyone had a brilliant time!

Employees from Nottingham based Columbus IT took off into the jungle earlier this month to raise money for Midlands Air Ambulance.

The Annesley based International business consultancy company announced they would be supporting the Charity for the next 12 months.

To launch the fundraising 50 Columbus employees took part in a sponsored jungle assault course on Friday 9th July, which has raised over £4000 for the Charity.

The assault course took place at the Adrenalin Jungle in Sherwood Forest, (Bills Thorpe) and involved employees undertaking 2 acres of scramble nets, rope swings, a burma bridge and much more. The winning team on the day was “Assaulted” who completed the course in an impressive 21.14 minutes.

Mary Hunter, Manager Director of Columbus IT says “Everyone had a great day on Friday and it was a really fun way to kick off our fundraising for Midlands Air Ambulance.”

Columbus IT will be running activities throughout the year with the aim of raising  £5,000 for the Charity.

Stef Langford-Brown, Corporate Business Development Manager for Midlands Air Ambulance says “As a Charity Midlands Air Ambulance receives no government or national lottery funding so support from the business community is vital to us. Columbus IT is a leading international consultancy firm so we are particularly delighted that they have chosen us as their charity of the year and look forward to working together for what I hope will be a long time to come.”

Midlands Air Ambulance received over £1,000 from pupils at Packwood Haugh School this week.

The money was raised earlier this year at the north Shropshire school’s quinquennial summer fair which was attended by over 500 pupils, parents and teachers.

An impressive total of £11,805 was raised on the day with 50% proceeds used to develop theatre and recreational facilities for the school and the remainder split evenly between Midlands Air Ambulance, Severn Hospice, Hope House, Help for Heroes and the IndoChina Starfish Foundation.

On the day guests wandered round a selection of traditional fete stalls including those selling cakes, toys, books and plants before trying their luck on the tombola and raffle and trying even harder to stay on the slippery pole.

Especially popular was the stall that allowed pupils to pelt their headmaster Nigel Westlake with wet sponges!

Fair organiser and retired Senior Master Mr Howard Bourne says “Everyone had such a fun time at the fair and it was a brilliant way to raise some money for both the school and some very deserving charities.”

Midlands Air Ambulance would like to say a huge thank you to the fantastic support from everyone at Packwood Haugh School.

John and Marcia Harden, husband and wife from Sutton Coldfield, have raised £400 for Midlands Air Ambulance.

The money was raised through a 36 mile sponsored walk and on 26th May 2010 the couple visited Cosford Air Base to hand over a much appreciated cheque.

The sponsored walk was the Harden’s way of saying thank you to Midlands Air Ambulance after the Charity airlifted their friend Pat Nixon, who lives in Lichfield, to safety last year.

Supportive friend Marcia says “Pat was in a furniture store in Birmingham when she fell up some steps and damaged her knee cap. Thankfully Midlands Air Ambulance arrived quickly on the scene and airlifted her to Hartland’s Hospital to be treated”

Marcia became friends with Pat when she joined the Soroptimist International of Sutton Coldfield, of which Pat has been named president this year.

“Everyone at the Soroptimist group is so grateful to the air ambulance for helping Pat and to say thank you John and I decided to get out there and raise some much needed funds for the Charity” continues Marcia.

The all-female group boasts a membership of 43 and provides a free service to the local community and charities. For more information visit www.soroptimist-gbi.org/sutton-coldfield

Wombourne based Static Systems Group has chosen Midlands Air Ambulance and Wolverhampton’s Compton Hospice as its Charities of the Year during 2010.

Static Systems’ Managing Director, Adrian Turner said “It’s such a difficult decision to make when there are so many worthy causes. We felt that selecting the Midlands Air Ambulance and Compton Hospice was a good balance, providing as they do, such wonderful and much needed services to our community. I think they are both causes that our employees, clients and suppliers can relate to. We are very happy and proud to be able to play a small part towards helping to fund their costs.”

Midlands Air Ambulance is very exited to be working with Static Systems this year and would like to say a big thank you for all of their support.

Freemasons from the province of Staffordshire handed over a cheque for £4,000 to Midlands Air Ambulance last week.

Jason Levy Fund Raising Manager for Midlands Air Ambulance says “We are always so grateful to the fundraising work that goes on by so many our fantastic supporters. I would like to say thank you to all the Staffordshire Freemasons for their very kind donation.”