I once asked a friend who had recently celebrated her 50th birthday, what she had done to mark the occasion.
‘I went for a ride in a helicopter,’ was the reply.
‘Wow, that must have been fun,’ I gushed, assuming it had been a special ‘experience’ that someone had bought her as a present.
‘Not really,’ she said, ‘it was the Essex Air Ambulance.’
She had been thrown from her horse out hacking, and while a bridleway near Finchingfield isn’t exactly the back of beyond, it was a location impossible to reach by a conventional ambulance. She had landed on her head and lost consciousness for a while, and although her injuries turned out not to be serious, without prompt medical attention the outcome might have been much worse.
Another friend of mine was involved in a massive car crash, and without an airlift to the London Hospital 30 miles away, he would quite simply not have survived. That’s why I find it amazing that air ambulance services in the UK are predominantly funded by charities, their operational costs being only partially met by the NHS.
And that’s why I’m so pleased that Dorset 20:20 Art Society are supporting Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance at their forthcoming Open Exhibition. It runs from Wednesday 23rd – Tuesday 29th April, in the Downstairs Lounge at Church House, Wimborne Minster BH21 1AT (right next door to the Minster). It’s open daily, 10 am – 5 pm, and entrance is free.
I’ve entered three paintings. Come and see!
‘Sweet Delights’ – oil/wax pencil + ink, from my Sweetscapes collection
‘Horses’ – oil/wax pencil + ink, from my Curiously Cubist collection
‘Sweet Dream’ – oil/wax pencil + ink, from my Sweetscapes collection
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