Ambulance charity shop opening

Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC), opened their first charity shop in Carlton Court at the heart of Westbury-on-Trym today to help raise vital funds for their lifesaving service. The local charity had a small and socially distanced ribbon cutting to mark the occasion, with Lord Lieutenant of Bristol and Patron of GWAAC, Peaches Golding, and former patient of the charity, Sallyanne Haigh, doing the honours of opening the new shop, along with the charity’s other Patrons, CEO, and Westbury-on-Trym Councillor, Steve Smith. GWAAC provides the critical care and air ambulance services for Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire, attending to over five patients a day on average. Each call-out they attend costs around £2,000, yet due to COVID-19 the charity has seen a significant loss in their fundraising income, with events and face-to-face fundraising opportunities cancelled. The new shop will raise much-needed awareness of the charity’s lifesaving work in their local area, and hopefully, much-needed funds to keep them flying and to ensure that they can continue to be there for those in need.