President's Appeal 2006

For his final year in the Presidency of NDMC, Fred Partridge chose the Devon Air Ambulance Trust to benefit from our fund-raising activities.

Major fundraisers Sally Jenkinson (left) and Mike Reed help chairman Les Deacon (centre) to present a cheque for £1521.03 to Averil and Shelly Kingdon (right) representing the Devon Air Ambulance Trust.

How and when did the Devon Air Ambulance begin?

In 1986, 18 year old Ceri Thomas was involved in a fatal collision, whilst out on his bike. A road ambulance took Ceri to hospital, but he died later of his injuries. Ceri's mother Ann (pictured right with daughter Antonia) wanted to know if anything else could have been done to save her son's life. The doctor explained that the quicker a patient receives emergency treatment, the better chance there was of survival.

The Ceri Thomas Appeal was set up in August 1990. On 27th August 1992 the service went into operation.

Ann remembers, “The emotion was over-whelming. I, along with many others along the way had achieved what we had set out to do. Ceri’s life had not been in vain.”