Cookhill WI

There have been various invitations, including a talk on the history of the Jewellery Quarter at Bentley on April 12 and a trip to Boundary Mills Store with Kingfisher WI on April 18.

Mrs Penn-Ashman gave a talk on the important role of the Air Ambulance Service.

As area coordinator and banker, and with a son as an air medic, her enthusiasm for the service overflows.

She spoke of some of the funny incidents and also the sad and thought-provoking ones during her visits to all sorts of events in the course of her duties.

She can be with well-known celebrities one night where contributions are in the thousand of pounds to "down and outs" the next night, where contributions can be 1p, 2p or 10p but regardless, the desire to give is just as sincere.

After an incident when the service was needed, one pub in Evesham now collects more than £1,000 a year and is known as the Air Ambulance Pub.

As it costs £50,000 a month to run the service, all the fund-raising projects - from signing broken limb plasters to selling pickled onions - are all important.

The first helicopter was based at RAF Cosford but now a further two fly from Strensham Services and East Midland Airport.

All seven ambulance centres in the region use the service, covering the whole of the Midland Region.

Flying at 140 mph, the distance from Evesham to Redditch can be covered in two-and-a-half minutes.

A journey from Inkberrow to Oxford took 11 minutes while the return journey by road, with the same patient, took two hours.

The greatest demand for help comes from road accidents, followed by riding mishaps and motorcyclists.

During the past year, 6,300 people have been helped. Inkberrow alone had 14 visits in 10 months.

Mrs Penn-Ashman's talk was followed by a video showing the helicopters' vital role.

The next meeting is on April 13 when Jo Gloger from Forge Mill Museum will tell members "There is more to a needle than meets the eye".