A VILLAGE will come together to raise funds for the Midlands Air Ambulance after the service saved the lives of at least two residents in the past year.

The air ambulance has assisted in the rescue of four people from Ashton-under-Hill, near Evesham. in the past 12 months. Two of them, Alex Shirra and Jeff Fletcher, credit the skills of the emergency service with saving their lives.

Mr Shirra, aged 20, was airlifted to hospital last July after an horrific crash on the A46 Evesham bypass in which he suffered life-threatening injuries, whereas Mr Fletcher was also airlifted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham after having a cardiac arrest on April 21 this year.

Mr Fletcher said that if it was not for the Air Ambulance, which came to his aid within 10 minutes, he would not have survived.

“They saved my life,” he said. “There’s no doubt about that. It’s something I will never forget. They arrived and whipped me up to the QE. By 1pm I had a stent fitted. The surgeon said if that happened anywhere else in the world I would have died. There aren’t the facilities.

“We’re hoping to raise some money. There’s a lot of people in the village getting involved.”

We reported last week how Mr Shirra is recovering from his sickening crash, one year on.

The coffee morning is being held on Saturday, August 25, at Ashton Village Hall from 10.30am to 1pm and will include coffee and cakes, a book stall and photographs of the village taken by Mr Fletcher for the Diamond Jubilee.