The North West Air Ambulance Charity (NWAA) has launched an emergency appeal to keep its lifesaving service funded.
The North West Air Ambulance (NWAA) service is said to attend around 2,500 missions to provide help to eight million people each year, with its world-class care becoming increasingly more specialised over the last two decades it has been flying.
But despite still providing this advanced pre-hospital care to patients in need right across the region and continuing to support the NHS on the frontline throughout the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it has lost an estimated £71,000 in revenue each month since the first national lockdown.
This loss is said to equal 20% of the charity’s income in the past year alone.
The ongoing pandemic has had a severe impact on the organisation, with store closures, cancelled fundraisers and postponed events all contributing to a dramatic dip in funds.
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The service – which flies three helicopters in the region, and is entirely dependent on public and corporate donations – now says it needs more than £9.5 million a year to continue, which is why it has launched an urgent appeal for funding.
We’ve launched an #emergencyappeal to raise funds to keep us flying to save lives across the North West.
— North West Air Ambulance Charity (@NWAirAmbulance) February 2, 2021
The appeal for funding is to ensure the life-saving fleet never needs to be grounded in the future.
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Sarah Naismith – Director of Income and Engagement at NWAA Charity – has urged anyone in a position to donate to do consider doing so.
She has insisted that any donations received would allow the charity to continue its crucial work.
Speaking on the importance of the appeal, Sarah said: “COVID-19 has disrupted everyone’s lives, it’s threatened to grind down our friends in the NHS, and it’s placed financial and operational strain on our charity.
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“The crew have continued their lifesaving work every day, supporting the NHS and working side by side with the ambulance service, however, the disruption to our fundraising revenues is significant and we don’t take sharing this news lightly”.
“I know we saved that child that day.”
With no government or NHS funding, it’s your donations that ensure we can continue flying to save lives. Make a difference today, donate now 👉 https://t.co/5HgoZyz90A
— North West Air Ambulance Charity (@NWAirAmbulance) February 25, 2021
She continued: “Without funding, we may not be able to continue to make a critical difference to patients.
“For 21 years, we have always been blown away by the generosity of our supporters, and we wouldn’t be here without them, so with our work at greater risk than ever before, any donations will allow us to continue to reach and treat patients in need, and give them the best chance of survival.
“Help us help people across the North West.”
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If you would like to make “a life-saving donation” to The North West Air Ambulance (NWAA), then you can simply text HELPNWAA5 to 70085 to donate £5, or you can visit the NWAA website.
More information on the services provided and the support needed can also be found here.
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Manchester City announced signing of top Premier League defender Marc Guehi
Danny Jones
It looks like they’ve finally got a done deal: Manchester City have finally announced the transfer of highly sought-after defender Marc Guehi.
Man City reached an agreement with Crystal Palace to sign the increasingly established Three Lions star after emerging as a suitor in recent weeks.
Pep Guardiola’s pursuit of the impressive Premier League centre-back ramped up earlier this month, as it became apparent that they were hoping to hijack Liverpool’s prospective move for Guehi.
The Ivory Coast-born England international looked all set to arrive at Anfield back in the summer, but the deal never materialised, and now rivals City have sealed his signature instead.
Finally confirmed and fully announced on Monday, 19 January, Palace and Man City are said to have reached an agreement in principle for a base fee of approximately £20 million.
However, rumoured add-ons are thought take that total closer to £30m; either way, it’s fair to say that it’s an absolute bargain for a player of his quality.
On the other hand, the acquisition will also see Man City’s total spending reach roughly half a billion pounds over the past year alone. Staggering sums for any sporting outfit.
Not that his former London team will mind one bit, of course, as it became increasingly clear that Guehi would be leaving eventually; manager Oliver Glasner – who also seems set to depart at the end of his contract – even addressed the sale ahead of completion in a recent press conference.
Guehi will wear the number 15 shirt for Man City and has penned a deal until 2031.
With Man City currently facing multiple absences, particularly in their backline with both Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias out injured, Guehi’s arrival is no doubt a welcome one.
Although many debated whether or not Pep needed to sign another centre-half, especially with two promising youth players returning from loan, supporters will nevertheless be glad to have snatched him from the clutches of Liverpool.
Over in the women’s team, they’ve also brought in a new member of the squad who could help spur on their title charge.
Can you see any more deals being down befor the end of the window?
New survey reveals half of Mancs have already given up their new year’s resolutions
Emily Sergeant
We’re into our third week of 2026 now, and according to a new survey, half of Mancs have already ditched their new year’s resolutions.
New year’s resolutions are always made with the best intentions, and it’s not like we intentionally set ourselves up to fail with them, but more often than not, that tends to be the case – and now a new survey of 1,000 Brits carried out over the past few weeks has found that 35% of us have already admitted to giving them up.
That percentage rises to a whopping 50% when narrowed down to the people of Greater Manchester.
Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, and Glasgow are the other four major cities joining Manchester in the top five list of people in each area that have stopped their 2026 challenge early.
Half of Mancs have apparently already given up their new year’s resolutions / Credit: PICRYL | Pexels
On the other end of the spectrum, it’s the cities of Southampton, Newcastle, and Edinburgh that are staying strong, with just 25%, 26% and 26% giving their new year’s resolutions up respectively, and some of the other northern cities on the list including Liverpool and Leeds.
According to new research from greetings card marketplace, Thortful, more than half of Brits (53%) expect to give up within the first three months of the year – with the hustle of busy schedules, work commitments, families, and social activities being given as reasons why.
When it comes to the reasons people provided for why they’ve given their resolutions up this year, lack of discipline tops the list at 43%, followed by just being too busy to consider them at 21%, and different mental or physical barriers in third place, as well as a change of personal circumstances and a lack of money also cited.
The majority of people cited a lack of discipline as being the reason they gave up / Credit: Andrea Piacquadio (via Pexels)
Looking forward to next year, it seems many of us want to reframe how we set our new year’s resolutions in the future.
According to the research, 32% of respondents want to ‘improve their existing qualities rather than set an unrealistic challenge’ next time around, and 16% ‘feel like there’s social pressure to change in the new year’, when in reality, they ‘don’t have to’.
Emily Sergeant -
2nd March 2021 
