A FUNDRAISER for an air ambulance was late arriving to pick up a cheque from a Forest pub – because she was helping to save a life nearby.

Nicole Beebee of the Great Western Air Ambulance was in Coleford when a woman collapsed in the main car park last Thursday (February 15).

She was on her her way to the Tufthorn Inn in Milkwall where landlord Jack Crook and customers had raised £1,765 when the drama happened.

Ms Beebee used a defibrillator to administer potentially life-saving aid before the ambulance arrived.

She then made her way to Milkwall where she received the cheque which will go towards the

air ambulance’s crucial work.

“I was a bit late getting here because I was helping a lady in Coleford,” she said.

The money was raised with a number of events over the last year including Mr Crook growing and shaving off his beard.

The beard shave raised £520 and the rest came from a Christmas raffle, a Lottery bonus ball game and a large jar for donations on the bar.

He said: “There are a lot of outdoor people who use the pub and the air ambulance has always served the area well.”

On the average the air ambulance comes to the Forest once a day and last year it helped 1,835 people across Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire.

Ms Beebee said: “We are very busy in the area, yesterday (Wednesday, February 14) we were in Longhope. We are in the Forest on average once a day.”

On average we do five jobs a day but it could be nine or 10 and it costs £3 million a year to keep it in the air.

With no government funding, donations such as the one from the Tufthorn are vital to keeping the service going.

“We are solely funded by the people we serve – a lot of people in the Forest know somebody who has been helped by the air ambulance even if they haven’t been themselves.

“We are not seen as a local charity because we fly out of Bristol but none of us know when we might need the air ambulance.

“If you are having a cardiac arrest, the helicopter will land in the road next to you and that makes us local.”