The Brecon Mountain Railway in South Wales will be holding a special fundraising weekend for Wales Air Ambulance on the weekend of Saturday, 24th, and Sunday, 25th October.

The railway’s support for the Wales Air Ambulance service comes after its newly completed car park was used to attend a medical emergency near the railway.

Watching a specialist medical team being able to land close to a casualty showed the importance of suitable landing locations and rapid access during medical emergencies.

The railway decided it wanted to find a practical way to support the charity and help visitors learn more about its remarkable work, and will donate £1 to Wales Air Ambulance for every passenger who travels on the Brecon Mountain Railway that weekend.

As well as donations from passengers’ tickets, the Brecon Mountain Railway will also have further ways in which passengers can help, such as adding an extra donation when booking their railway tickets, making a donation on the day, and purchasing merchandise from a Wales Air Ambulance team, which will be in attendance at the railway throughout the weekend and will pass all donations directly to the Wales Air Ambulance charity.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the founding of Wales Air Ambulance; since then, it has flown more than 57,000 missions and now has four helicopters and a fleet of rapid response vehicles.

Each year, the charity needs to raise £13 million to maintain its fleet of aircraft and vehicles, which it achieves partly through charitable donations, fundraising events, and individual contributions.

Another railway with a close association with an Air Ambulance charity is the Lappa Valley Railway, based at St Newlyn East near Newquay in Cornwall. In February, it nominated the Cornwall Air Ambulance as its charity partner for this year. It has also Cornwall has repainted one of its locomotives in the livery of one of Cornwall Air Ambulance’s helicopters, Duke of Cornwall.