Staff At Law Firm’s Newbury Office Raise £3,000

Thames Valley Air Ambulance is set to benefit from a record £3,000 donation from Irwin Mitchell’s Newbury office, after staff at the firm spent a year raising funds for the good cause.

Thames Valley Air Ambulance was voted for by staff at the office to be their Charity of the Year for 2017 as part of a nationwide initiative established by the Irwin Mitchell Charities Foundation (IMCF).

Established in 1997, IMCF is an independent registered charity set up by the firm which has donated more than £1.6 million to third sector organisations.

Following 12 months of fundraising activities, including a campaign to raise £20,000 in a month to celebrate IMCF’s 20^th anniversary, nationally, the law firm raised a record £180,000 during 2017. In doing so, the majority of the firm’s regional offices, including Newbury, smashed their own fundraising records in the process.

The bumper donation, which is £2,500 more than staff raised in 2016, will help Thames Valley Air Ambulance continue to provide emergency response to people across Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Thames Valley Air Ambulance delivers frontline treatment that would normally only be available in a hospital by taking advanced medical care and expertise to a patient, saving time when minutes matter. This means that a patient is diagnosed, treated and given hospital-level care more quickly, increasing the chance of survival.

Money raised by Irwin Mitchell will help Thames Valley Air Ambulance continue to save the lives of people like Donna, who required urgent medical treatment following a very serious car crash. The Air Ambulance flew to the scene of the incident within 12 minutes and had to use anaesthetic to put Donna to sleep so they could perform surgical procedures on the roadside to stabilise her condition.

Five years on from the incident, Donna has mobility issues, suffered brain damage and blind in one eye, but thanks to Thames Valley Air Ambulance has seen her daughter get married.

Donna said: “Every single day, I thank the air ambulance crew that saved my life. I am in no doubt that if it wasn’t for the incredible skill and speed of Thames Valley Air Ambulance, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Bekki James, corporate fundraising manager at Thames Valley Air Ambulance said: “We were thrilled to be Irwin Mitchell’s Charity of the Year 2017. Irwin Mitchell’s generosity has helped us to deliver advanced care to people in a medical emergency night and day, 365 days a year. Our pilots, paramedics and doctors work together, at the frontline of saving lives. Every day, anyone in our community could be in urgent need of our services. When the worst happens, our medical teams give patients the best chance. Thank you Irwin Mitchell for your support, we couldn’t do it without you.”

Sarah Phillips, regional managing partner at Irwin Mitchell’s Newbury office, said:

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“It’s an honour to be able to provide this record donation to a truly fantastic cause in our local community.

“Last year we celebrated 20 years of the IMCF and I am delighted that thanks to the creativity and generosity of Irwin Mitchell employees, we made our anniversary year a record breaking one.

“Everyone at IM is passionate about giving back to the communities we operate in and making a real difference to the lives of those supported by our Charities of the Year.

“We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved last year. Hearing how Thames Valley Air Ambulance is going to use the donation, and how people across the county will be able to rely even more on the charity’s services, is spurring on our staff to think of bigger and better ways to fundraise for this year’s good cause.” Sarah Phillips - Head of Lifetime and Estate Planning in the Thames Valley