A fellow charity has granted £300,000 towards Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance's relocation appeal, bringing the amount raised to £800,000 in just six weeks. 

The HELP Appeal, the only charity in the country dedicated to funding hospital and air ambulance base helipads, gave the huge boost to the Operation Airbase appeal, aimed at relocating the life saving charity's airbase and charity headquarters to a site near Southampton Airport. 

The air ambulance charity is now one step closer to its target of £3.6 million and is on track to move into its purpose-built home by 2026.

(Image: HIOWAA)

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HIOWAA will utilise its reserves to acquire the building but needs a further £2.8 million to convert and equip the site into a purpose-built hangar and office, including the addition of a helipad and hangar doors.

Around 70 per cent of call-outs are to the south of the region: Winchester, Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight – a considerable distance from the current airbase which sits on the north-western edge of Hampshire.

Visit hiowaa.org/appeal