Firefighters from High Wycombe pictured outside the Eden Centre

23 December 2008

Generous shoppers helped High Wycombe Fire Station collect £1,740 for charity in just five hours on Saturday.

Firefighters from White and Green Watches greeted shoppers in the Eden Centre, High Wycombe, from 11am to 4pm.

Watch Manager Eamonn Eddowes, from White Watch at High Wycombe Fire Station said: “We would like to thank the public for their generosity, we were delighted with the total - £1,740 in five hours is no mean feat!"

“We would also like to thank Eden Centre management for allowing us to use the facilities. It was the first year we have collected in the shopping centre and we hope to make this an annual event”.

The money raised will be donated to The Fire Fighters Charity, the Thames Valley & Chiltern Air Ambulance and the Stoke Mandeville Hospital Burns Unit.

The Fire Fighters Charity is a national charity which provides assistance to serving and retired fire and rescue service staff, their families and dependants.

The Thames Valley & Chiltern Air Ambulance carries life-saving equipment and transports patients to one of several hospitals in the area with landing facilities, or to a specialist hospital if required. It is crewed by a pilot and two paramedics. The paramedics are provided by the NHS, but all other costs have to be funded by a charitable trust.

The regional burns and plastics unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital provides specialist services to patients from Buckinghamshire, and as far away as Reading and Northampton.