Yorkshire Air Ambulance has been selected as Cedar Court Hotels group’s charity partner for the year.
The rapid response emergency charity was voted for overwhelmingly by management and staff at Cedar Court’s four Yorkshire hotels based at Harrogate, Wakefield, Leeds/Bradford, and Huddersfield/Halifax.
Tracey Ractliffe, Group Director of Sales & Marketing and lead on corporate responsibility, said:
Choosing Yorkshire Air Ambulance was an easy decision for us. It’s important to everyone to support a charity that’s based in Yorkshire saving lives across the county.
We hope some of the money we raise will go towards the new state-of-the-art helicopters that are due to commence operations this year, and it will be pleasing to see these take to the skies in the knowledge that we have played a small part in getting them there.
Staff have already embarked on ambitious plans to raise much needed funds through a range of activities including donating 50% of the proceeds from the opening launch night of the Porterhouse Restaurant in Harrogate.
Simon Cotton, General Manager of the Cedar Court in Harrogate, said:
As General Manager of our Harrogate property we have the pleasure of looking out over the fabulous 200 acres of Stray parkland on our doorstep.
However we can also see the hospital from our front doors which plays a significant role not just for Harrogate as a town, but the whole district and we often see the Air Ambulances landing on the Stray having been to an emergency somewhere in the region and it’s great to know what a fantastic job these people do at saving lives.
The team and I have long been involved in raising money for charity, each year trying to do our bit for the community as we feel passionate about the role we play within it and it was an easy decision to choose to help a very worthy charity like YAA.
The Best Western Cedar Court Hotel Harrogate is also inviting guests to add £1 to their room bill and individual personnel throughout the company are getting involved in sponsored challenges.
Tracey Ractliffe added:
The Yorkshire Air Ambulance collection tins will be prominently positioned throughout the hotels and we sincerely hope that in addition to our other activities we can raise significant funds through loose change donations.
Yorkshire Air Ambulance Yorkshire Air Ambulance needs to raise £12,000 every single day to keep its helicopters flying. The charity serves 5million people across Yorkshire, attending on average, more than 1,000 incidents a year.
The independent charity is currently replacing both its two ageing aircraft with the latest generation Airbus H145 helicopter.
The first of these becomes fully operational at the beginning of September following a full medical fit-out and crew training. A second H145 has been ordered from Airbus and will be in service by the end of the year.
The new aircraft – each costing £6m – offer exceptional flight performance and will have significantly lower operational and maintenance costs. The H145 is night capable, enabling longer flying hours, and is used by military, police and air rescue services throughout the world.
The purchase and fitting out costs have been met through planned savings, grants, careful budgeting and the amazing generosity of the people of Yorkshire.
Kerry Garner, Regional Fundraising Manager for Yorkshire Air Ambulance, said:
We are absolutely delighted that the Cedar Court Hotels in Yorkshire have chosen to adopt the YAA as their Charity of the Year.We are really looking forward to working with their staff and customers over the next year and supporting them with their fantastic fundraising initatives! The YAA is an independent charity so we rely in individuals, groups and businesses such as the Cedar Court Hotels to help us raise the £12,000 we need each day to keep us flying.
