In May 2019 former RAF helicopter pilot John Nowell spoke to the Rotary Club of Leicester Novus about the charity Helipads for Hospitals he had founded.
The aim of the charity is to encourage people to donate empty aluminium cans which will be crushed and smelted into the raw material for helipads to built at Leicester Royal Infirmary and then at the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham.
Neither of these prestigious hospitals with busy Accident and Emergency departments currently have an onsite landing pad for Air Ambulance helicopters.
Some Rotary Clubs have paid for collecting bins to be sited in their communities to encourage donations of cans. Leicester Novus decided to buy a bin and held a collection in the centre of Leicester. While they were there, accepting cash or cans, they heard about South Leicestershire Litter Wombles https://www.facebook.com/groups/604107836721038/?ref=group_header. The Wombles had been formed in February 2019. Since then the number of Wombles has grown to nearly 800 and they have collected many hundreds of bags of rubbish and have separated out thousands and thousands of aluminium cans which have been given to Helipads For Hospitals.
Now, the help spread the word even further, Novus Rotary has booked Braunstone Town Civic Centre in Kingsway. John Nowell has kindly agreed to deliver his PowerPoint presentation to the Wombles and to anyone else who wants to learn about the charity and how they can help.
John will give an update on how much closer to the million-can target the appeal has reached and will have promotional materials to help people identify the collection centres nearest to them.
Organiser Jim Matthews said: “Novus Rotary has been hugely impressed by the Wombles. Their motto of ‘Action Not Words’ strikes a chord with Rotarians, as does their concern for the environment. We hope other people with the same concerns and commitments will come to the meeting.
“All are welcome, but, so we can make sure everyone who comes can sit in comfort, we need people to tell us they are coming by e-mailing mailto:RotaryClubofLeicesterNovus@gmail.com putting Helipads Meeting in the Subject Line.”
The meeting will be held from 7.30pm to 9pm at Braunstone Civic Centre, Kingsway, on Monday, March 9.
Last edited: 00:20 on Friday, January 17, 2020
