Donations to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance charity have more than doubled in the last year, with Bradford being the most generous region.

But with the charity still £3.6 million pounds in debt after taking a loan to purchase a second helicopter, it is appealing for donations to continue.

In the year up to March this year a total of £3.5m was raised for the charity, a massive increase on the previous year's total of £1.5m.

Income from legacies alone increased almost ten-fold from £140,553 in 2006 to £1.38m in 2007.

A charity close to the hearts of many people in Bradford, Yorkshire Air Ambulance came to international prominence following its rescue of Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond last year.

He suffered extensive head injuries when a dragster he was driving crashed while filming a stunt for the popular show at Elvington airfield near York.

Mr Hammond was airlifted to Leeds General Infirmary where he remained for five weeks following the accident. He went on to make a complete recovery.

Paul Garland, head of fundraising for Yorkshire Air Ambulance, said: "Obviously we are delighted with the number of donations we have received.

"This increase in donations is one of the reasons we decided to take out a loan for £3.6m to buy a second air ambulance. We have five years to repay that loan and although there has been a significant increase in donations we need to sustain that in the years to come.

"The increase in donations is terrific news and we are extremely grateful to all those who have supported us. We have been described as heroes for our work but I always say that the real heroes are the people who continue to send donations to allow us to do our work.

"We would also like to thank the media for all their support. They are the oxygen of the charity.

"We would especially like to thank the people of Bradford. We are active in the Bradford district at least once a week and year after year the people of Bradford are the most generous in terms of fundraising. We get so much support from across the county but the people of Bradford have done so much for us."

Anyone who wants to make a donation contact the Yorkshire Air Ambulance Service Charity at: Office D255, Dean Clough, Halifax, HX3 5AX. Telephone 0845 1206060.

e-mail: paddy.mcguffin@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

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