Oakham charity shop funds 800 missions for Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance

People who have bought from or donated to a town charity shop have helped fund hundreds of life-saving missions.

The Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance’s shop in High Street, Oakham first opened its doors on October 24, 2012.

During the past 11 years it has made over £1.4 million from selling goods from the 36,320 bags donated.

This has funded more than 800 vital missions.

The air ambulance service relies entirely on donations to raise the £1,700 needed for each rescue mission, as the charity receives no government or National Lottery funding.

Assistant store manager at the Oakham shop, Pete Carpenter, said: “We would like to thank everyone in the local community for all their support over the past 11 years and without this support our crews wouldn’t be able to continue their life-saving missions, providing pre-hospital critical care to those who need it most.

“We still rely on the local community’s support with donations of pre-loved items such as bric-a-brac, clothing and toys to keep our crews flying 24/7, 365 days per year.”

The charity is celebrating 50,000 missions and its 15th anniversary of providing the service across the three counties.