28 January 2020
Recycle Cans for Charity “ Helipads for Hospitals”
Thursday the 23rdJanuary saw cadets from Walton Detachment of No. 1 (Hereward) Company, Cambridgeshire Army Cadet Force hand over more than 7,000 crushed recycled cans that they have been collecting for charity.
Since August 2019 cadets from across the company have been collecting the cans, which have now been handed over to “Helipads for Hospitals”. The aim for these cans is that they will be melted down and used to make the components so that ultimately every hospital will have a much-needed helipad. It is estimated that there are 600 hospitals across the UK without the facilities to allow for an air ambulance to land on site. This means the helicopters need to land in nearby fields or parks where the patient is transferred to an ambulance and then driven to the hospital, wasting valuable time.
This project has been championed in Rotary Clubs across the area and local club Presidents Aasiyah Joseph (Peterborough Rotary Club), Lesley Ewen (Peterborough Ortons Rotary Club) and Rylan Ray (Peterborough Rotaract Club) came along on the evening to congratulate the cadets and to thank them for their hard work.
During the evening the cadets received a presentation from the founder of Helipads for Hospitals, John Nowell. He explained the how the project works and why it is so important. He also told the cadets that it takes an approximate 1 million cans to build each helipad, however there are an estimated 50 million cans sent to landfill in the UK every single week.
Major Lesley Deacon, Commanding Officer of 1 (Hereward) Company was in attendance to hear the presentation and see the handover. Member of Parliament for Peterborough, Paul Bristow, joined her to praise the cadets and to highlight this as one of the many amazing things the Army Cadet Force does locally and nationally.
The local Army Cadet Force has detachments across Peterborough and Fenland and takes cadets from 12 years old (Year 8 at school) through to 18, delivering adventurous training, shooting opportunities and skills for life such as first aid, teamwork and leadership. If you are interested in joining the ACF as a cadet or as an adult volunteer please find out more at armycadets.com/county/cambridgeshire-acf
Report by SI R Ray
