Copter off to roaring start with $11,000 Lions boost

The new Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter about to take to the skies. Photo / Christine McKay

A new, bigger and better Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter will take to the skies above our district within the next week helped along by the fundraising efforts of the Woodville Lions Club.

"We've been limited by the size of our current chopper and this new machine is a big step up for us in terms of service to our community," Chris Moody, pilot and base manager for the service said.

"And we'll be going back to the hangar at the hospital, too."

Mr Moody said the new helicopter would minimise inconvenience and discomfort for patients and crew with new specialty stretchers part of every ambulance service in the region.

"We'll have a safety advantage," he said

And while the machine had been refurbished during the past 12 months, with crews undergoing training, it was community support that kept the machine in the air, Stewart Davies, a trustee for the Phillips Search and Rescue Trust told the Woodville Lions last week.

"What you people do to make this possible is amazing," he said.

Last week the Woodville Lions presented $11,000 to the Palmerston North helicopter service, the profits from the club's annual Suzuki Coast to Coast motorbike ride in December last year.

The club has now donated $160,000 to the rescue helicopter since Clive Boyden first began organising the Coast to Coast ride from Himatangi Beach to Akitio Beach in 1992.

Mr Boyden's efforts earned him a Queen's Service Medal in the New Year Queen's honours and Mr Davies said it was very rewarding to have had a part in making the award happen.

But Woodville Lions Club member Peter Bonser acknowledged his club could not run such a successful event without the support of more than 100 wonderful sponsors.

"Many of you have been with us for a very long time," he said. "You all play your part and this year we've also got to thank Dave Monk of Pongaroa who got us out of a real hole when we realised there was no fuel supply for the riders in Pongaroa. Without Dave putting up his hand and offering to supply fuel, the ride would have been in trouble."

Mike Chapman, the president of the Woodville Lions Club, said the rescue helicopter was an easy cause to promote.

"The service is brilliant," he said. "Most of us live in the country and know how vital it is. But tonight is about our sponsors because we couldn't do what we do without them."

Once the new rescue helicopter has been launched there will be training for rural fire brigades and St John personnel throughout the region.