Daventry MP takes ‘fascinating’ and ‘informative’ tour to lifesaving charity for sustainable collaboration

Daventry MP and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris, recently visited The Air Ambulance Service's (TAAS) warehouse to speak with the charity’s reuse team about the opportunities available to work together on local sustainability concerns.

The lifesaving charity is in a bid to help build a more sustainable future by eliminating unwanted items reaching landfills.

TAAS is the umbrella organisation for the Children’s Air Ambulance, a national transfer service for critically ill children and babies, and two local air ambulances. The charity receives no government funding.

Harry Sirpal, head of reuse at TAAS, said: “Recycling, when done correctly, is one of the easiest ways to make a positive change to the environment. With our aim to divert waste going into landfills, along with Chris’ profile and contacts within the local community, we wanted to see how he could help further the charity with its reuse plans.”

Chris Heaton-Harris visited TAAS at the Daventry Trading Hub on November 10, 2023. Harry Sirpal and Kellie Hodgett, the reuse business support administrator at TAAS, took Chris Heaton-Harris on a tour of their warehouse to meet the team and learn about the charity's vital services provided across the community.

The charity provides a variety of opportunities for recycling that support the organisation's sustainability by donating and diverting good-quality pre-loved items from landfills via the charity’s donation banks and new indoor clothing banks.

Businesses can also benefit from the charity’s IT Asset Reuse collection and free data cleaning service for donated IT equipment.

Chris Heaton-Harris said: “I was given a really interesting presentation about their work with fundraising, clothing banks, and also their work with collaborative partnerships and networking groups.”

“I had a fascinating tour around the warehouse and chatted to the staff in the IT department, which offers an IT Data Wiping service, where they take in redundant technology equipment, data wipe it, and sell the items on eBay store to raise vital funds for the critical care service. It was a very informative visit, and great to see all the hard work done by the air ambulance team here in Daventry.”

The two TAAS local air ambulances, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance and Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Rutland Air Ambulance, collaborate on operations at major trauma scenes. Together, they carry out 1,800 rescues annually.

TAAS’s modern AgustaWestland helicopters have a top speed of 185mph and are the fastest civilian helicopters available today.

Kellie Hodgett said: “We were delighted to invite Chris Heaton-Harris to our Daventry Warehouse and are happy to be collaborating with him on raising awareness of The Air Ambulance Service and the reuse services we provide.

“We would appreciate it if Daventry and other Northamptonshire communities, education establishments and businesses would support us and get in contact if they would like to help us by donating unused or surplus IT equipment, donating to our clothing banks, or hosting one of our traditional or new indoor clothing banks.”