Charities

Creating Cambridge use part of its proceeds to support local charities.

Big Summer BBQ 2012

For the 3rd edition of the Big Summer BBQ, we have again decided to concentrate all our efforts on supporting one local charity and this time we have chosen Emmaus.

The Emmaus Cambridge Community at Landbeach was the first to be established in the UK. Opened in 1992 by Terry Waite CBE, the charity is home to up to thirty people who were formerly homeless and earns its income from running a second-hand shop just off the A10 which sells a wide range of second-hand furniture, household goods and collectables. The community is situated just outside the village of Landbeach, north of Cambridge itself, and works closely with other organizations in the area to support those people who are homeless or trapped by poverty. Emmaus Gloucestershire has made a short video about the work of Emmaus.

The Emmaus Cambridge Community second-hand shop is is an Aladdin’s cave full of treasures! We sell all manner of second-hand goods from furniture, bric-a-brac, records and books to cookers, fridges and washing machines, electrical goods and bicycles to name but a few. You can find out more here. We also have a Coffee Shop for the sale of drinks, cakes, sandwiches and soup.

Big Xmas Party 2011

For the 2nd edition of the Big Xmas Party, we have again decided to concentrate all our efforts on supporting one local charity and this time we have chosen Magpas.

What is Magpas?

Magpas is The Emergency Medical Charity.

(It used to stand for Mid Anglia General Practitioner Accident Service – but that no longer exists. We used to be made up of GPs volunteering their time in their own cars and driving to the scenes of a serious incidents.

But our service has since evolved, drugs have evolved and we now predominantly have A&E consultants, doctors and paramedics (who work in hospitals all over the country and work in the military / sometimes on the front line). They give up their time for free to work with Magpas because we have such a good reputation for training.

So what does Magpas do?

Imagine the scene of an emergency incident anywhere in East of England. A loved one is seriously ill, injured or trapped in a car crash or domestic accident – and the local Ambulance Crew is asking for medical support. That’s where Magpas Helimedix comes in, despatched to over 950 emergencies in 2010.

Magpas provides the UK’s only dedicated night time air ambulance with a highly trained doctor and paramedic on board.  Over 50 of the UK’s leading medics volunteer with Magpas to provide over £3.6 million worth of frontline medical care – free of charge. Our team work together to save lives day and night! Our aim is to reduce disability by the rapid provision of on-the-spot emergency medical expertise where it is needed.

Who are the Magpas Helimedix?

They are a team of highly trained leading medics, who volunteer their time to working with us; they will fly (by helicopter) or by land (via rapid response vehicle) to the scene of a serious emergency incident. The Key with Magpas is getting the lifesaving team to the scene as quickly as possible. We always have a doctor / consultant and a paramedic on shift day and night, ready to save your life – should you need them.

What about the history of Magpas?

We’ve been saving lives for the past 40 years and have come to the rescue for over 50,000 people. Now we need your help.

What do people think / say about us?

A lot of people think that if they were to dial 999, we would automatically arrive as part of the health service but that’s not the case. When talking to some of our patients, they have told us they couldn’t believe their lives were saved by a charity.

To give you an example of how our life saving work has made a difference..

Not long ago a tree surgeon needed our help, after a serious incident involving his chainsaw (he literally fell into his chainsaw and lost a lot of blood / had two minutes to live. His accident happened in April this year; he returned to work three months later – thanks to the lifesaving work of our incredible Helimedix team.

And our costs?

Magpas Helimedix are dedicated to saving lives but they can only continue to do so, with the public’s continued support. We receive no government or national  lottery funding which may come as a shock to you. It costs an average of £600 to fly to one emergency medical mission with the police helicopter, so that £600 could save a life!

To give you an idea of how some of our main costs break down:

  • It’s cost £750k to fund Magpas in its entirety for one year, allowing us to attend around 950 patients
  • Our Magpas and Police helicopter costs £250k per year – allowing us to fly to around 710 patients in need
  • To purchase a new emergency land response vehicle, it would cost £75k – allowing us to attend 240 patients on average by road
  • It costs £15k for the year – to finance the fuel and maintenance of our existing emergency land vehicle
  • To provide two months of medical consumables, including lifesaving drugs, bandages and dressings – it would cost £3k
  • To buy five flame and chemical retardant uniforms and boots for our Doctors and Paramedics, it would cost £2.5k

Where do you go if you want to find out more about Magpas?

You can find out more about Magpas on www.magpas.org.uk or you can follow us on Twitter via @magpas_charity or on Facebook via Magpas Lifesavers. You never know when you might need us! Thank you.

Big Summer BBQ 2011

For the 2nd edition of the Big Summer BBQ event, held on 15th July 2011, we decided to concentrate all our efforts on supporting one local charity and this year we chose Camfed.

We are grateful to Red Gate for donating an Amazon kindle, which was raffled off at the event. And the folk who turned up also kindly donated money in the Camfed donation bucket.

In total, we helped to collect £324.84 for the charity, which they will put to good use in their projects educating young girls and women in Africa.

To find out more about Camfed, read their thank you letter for the donation.

Big Summer BBQ 2010

From the initial Big Summer BBQ event on 16th July 2010, Creating Cambridge donated ALL of its profit to the following charities.