21 October, 2011

Almost £9,000 has been raised for the Air Ambulances of the South West through the fundraising efforts of rural insurance company Cornish Mutual.

This includes the sale of the 'Come Together, Eat Together' charity cookbook which has so far raised over £7,000 alone - the Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust will benefit from the cash injection to help keep the service flying.

Cornish Mutual Inspector Dave Bersey recently met with Susie Smith from the Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust to see the work of the paramedics at the Newquay Cornwall Airport base.

Copies of the book which featured local chefs including Arty Williams and Rick Stein were sold online, at the county's agricultural shows and other events, as well as by the charity's volunteer fundraisers.

Each copy costs £5 and includes more than 30 favourite recipes by cooking enthusiasts and families from across the county. There are still a few copies available to buy online at www.eattogether.co.uk/order - all proceeds go directly to the Cornwall, Devon and Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulances.

The 'Come Together, Eat Together' cookbook was launched by rural insurance firm Cornish Mutual, as part of its campaign to get families eating together. The campaign followed research, released earlier this year, which showed that almost half of families in Cornwall no longer ate together at least once a day.

Dave Bersey, Insurance Inspector with Cornish Mutual, said: "Meeting the paramedics and getting a better understanding of the life-saving job they do has reinforced the importance of raising money for the Air Ambulance through the sale of the charity cookbook. At Cornish Mutual, the whole team has been involved in various fundraising activities this year for the Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust and we hope that every penny raised will help to make a difference."

Susie Smith, Senior Community Fundraiser with the Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust said: "We're extremely grateful to Cornish Mutual for choosing to support the Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust. Staff, volunteers and visitors to our charity shops have all thoroughly enjoyed making the creative and inventive recipes in the books."

She added: "The speed with which our helicopter can get patients to hospital can be the difference between life and death. Cornwall, in particular, lends itself to needing this service with many of our beaches, moorlands and cliff tops being inaccessible by road. Add to this the fact that our narrow roads can come to a standstill during summer with the nearest A&E often being hours away by road. As we receive no funding from central government, we rely entirely on the support from local people and organisations such as Cornish Mutual to keep our helicopter flying and saving lives in Cornwall and in the Isles of Scilly."

Cornish Mutual provides farm, household, commercial, events and personal accident insurance to Members throughout the rural communities of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset.

To find out more about the 'Come Together, Eat Together' campaign and to order a copy of the cookbook, visit www.eattogether.co.uk.