Volunteers from the much-loved Pilgrim Hospital Charity Shop recently visited Lincs & Notts HQ to present crew with a fabulous donation of £20,000 before being shown the operations centre and see first-hand the vital work of the LNAA’s doctors, paramedics and pilots.

Caroline Howell, LNAA’s Trusts and Grants Manager was delighted to greet the team and said: “This is an incredible donation. Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance receives no direct government funding and rely on the generosity of individuals and organisations like Pilgrim Hospital Charity Shop to keep our helicopter in the air and our critical care cars on the roads 24/7, seven days a week.”

The donation will provide funding for blood transfusions and essential equipment used by the crew to anaesthetise critically ill and injured patients at the scene of an incident and help stabilise patients before they can be transferred to hospitals. It will also pay for surgical skills courses for two new paramedics.

Pilgrim Hospital Support Group Volunteer, Mick Clarke said, “We have seen and heard how our donation will be spent and we know it will go towards saving people in rural communities. Our roads are dangerous – the helicopter is vital to get quickly to some of these outlying villages and the doctors and paramedics are vital to treat people who are really ill and in need of emergency care.”

The Pilgrim Hospital Charity Shop was established in April 1997 to raise funds to purchase equipment for Pilgrim Hospital and surrounding hospitals but in 2020 the trustees expanded its constitution to allow donations to be made to support the good health and well-being of patients served NHS hospitals in the area.

Although the shop is small, it certainly does aim high and does big things.  Run by a band of seven volunteers, each member of the team adopts a different role, and are proud to open the doors 6 days a week and provide a community hub for people living in and around Boston.

Another volunteer who gives her time freely to make sure the shop opens daily is Marie Henderson.  She sums up why they wanted to support the vital work of LNAA: “If this donation saves just one life, it is worth it – it could be you or one of your loved ones.”

Pilgrim Hospital Charity Shop is located on Rosegarth Street, Boston and is open from 10am – 1pm, Monday to Saturday.