SWINDON Town Football Club is delighted to announce a new partnership with Wiltshire Air Ambulance. The partnership will see the two parties actively working together to promote the fantastic service the air ambulance provides to the community.

The main aim is to raise the profile of the appeal and to encourage supporters to help them to raise money for the new headquarters, which will be based at Semington.

Work on this state-of-the-art facility at Melksham began in April and with the help of Swindon Town Football Club, the challenge is on to raise the remaining funds needed to complete the project.

Adam Wainwright, Swindon Town's Head of Commercial, said: "The football club is the beacon of the community and is uniquely placed with its support base to promote charities and good causes such as the Wiltshire Air Ambulance.

"We are looking forward to working alongside the team there to raise the profile of the Airbase Appeal and we encourage all supporters to assist them in whatever way they can, so that they can complete their project quicker than they would have hoped for.

"The Wiltshire Air Ambulance are match ball sponsors for our Sky Bet League Two fixture with Newport County on November 25, and they will have volunteers collecting money outside the ground prior to kick-off so, if you can, please give generously.

"Their mascot, Wilber, will also be making an appearance and we are hopeful of a flyover from one of the crews at half-time.

"We hope the relationship grows beyond the initial one season agreement and continues long into the future, by which time the airbase will be fully functional and continuing to save lives."

David Philpott, chief executive of Wiltshire Air Ambulance, said: “We’d like to thank Swindon Town Football Club for all their support, and we are really looking forward to working with them on helping to raise awareness and vital funds for our new airbase to enable us to secure the future of our lifesaving service.”

The Airbase Appeal will enable Wiltshire Air Ambulance to bring together its helicopter, aircrew and charity team all on the same site and the base will allow their helicopter to reach all parts of the county within just 11 minutes, as it currently does so now.