Rockliffe Hall has named the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) as its nominated charity for the next twelve months.
GNAAS brings pioneering pre-hospital care to the scene, rescuing hundreds of severely injured or ill patients every year. The charity operates three helicopter air ambulances from its bases at Durham Tees Valley Airport and Langwathby, near Penrith. It covers around 8,000 square miles including the North-East, Cumbria and North Yorkshire.
The charity receives no funding from the NHS and is entirely reliant on public donations to survive. In the last financial year alone, GNAAS responded to 1062 call-outs at a cost of £5.2 million.
To mark Rockliffe Hall’s tenth anniversary year, the five star resort in Hurworth, near Darlington, aims to raise £10,000 for GNAAS through a range of events including special dinners, afternoon teas and a golf day. Members of the Rockliffe Hall team will also take part in a range fundraising initiatives such as the Great North Run and the Coast to Coast bike ride and staff will be encouraged to donate unwanted clothes to the charity through special collections at the hotel. In addition, on check-out, guests will be asked if they’d like to make a voluntary £1 donation to GNAAS.
Eamonn Elliott, Chief Executive at Rockliffe Hall, says: “We are delighted to be partnering with GNAAS as the resort’s chosen charity for the next 12 months. None of us know what is around the corner or when we might need the help of an air ambulance so this is a very worthy cause for us all to support. With Rockliffe’s tenth anniversary in 2019, we thought it fitting that we should set the ambitious fundraising target of £10,000 and we’ll be doing all we can to hit it.”
Grahame Pickering, Chief Executive at GNAAS, said: “We could not survive without this kind of support from local businesses, so we were ecstatic when we heard the news that Rockliffe Hall would be taking us on as its nominated charity.
“The fundraising target is a bold one, but if successful will have a positive impact on people’s lives here in the region by enabling our team to reach them in their time of need.”