The Air Ambulance Service’s fundraiser at The Ivy a roaring success

An eclectic mix of food critics, top chefs and sporting personalities came together last night for the first Business with Pleasure event at renowned London restaurant The Ivy.

The event, which was held in aid of The Air Ambulance Service (TAAS), included four courses of fine food, a Q&A session with star-studded guests including Tom Parker-Bowles and Chris Coleman, plus a comedy set from Simon Evans.

Business with Pleasure evenings are run by the charity across the country at various prestigious locations and have proved to be an excellent networking opportunity.

While guests dined on duck breast salad, deliciously soft pork belly and a beautifully crafted cheesecake, the charity was hard at work collecting auction bids on various exciting items, including a signed Tottenham Hotspurs t-shirt, dinner with the drummer from Pink Floyd, and the opportunity for esteemed foodie Tom Parker-Bowles (and son of Duchess of Cornwall) to cook for you and 12 friends in your own home.

“The atmosphere was vibrant and both celebrities and business guests had a fantastic time,” said fundraising manager, Kirsty Simpson.  

“The Air Ambulance Service receives no National Lottery or government funding so support from local businesses through events such as this is invaluable to keeping our lifesaving service in the sky.”

Funds raised from the current round of Business with Pleasure events are going towards launching the Children’s Air Ambulance at the end of 2012, which will provide a rapid transfer service for critically ill children across the UK.

Amazingly, TAAS’s state of the art helicopters have an average response time of just six minutes, meaning they massively increase the rate of survival at trauma scenes.  As a collaboration of several regional air ambulance services, TAAS carries out around 2000 rescues a year, an average of over five lives a day.

Eleanor Hooper

Additional information about TAAS can be found here.