The team at Markinch biomass Combined Heat and Power site have in the past walked up local hills for fitness and recreation and the station often donates to local charities; however the site recently reached new heights with a £1000 donation to a local airborne charity.

The donation came from the station and was awarded to Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA). David Hollingsworth Markinch Station Chemist and his daughter Emily went along to the airbase in Scone to present a cheque and have a guided tour of the helicopter by the pilot Colm Martyn and Paramedics Darren Chambers and Rich Garside. The team were on duty during the visit, luckily for Dave and family they didn't have an emergency to attend to so had time to talk about what they do and explain how the helicopter operates.

The SCAA receives no government funding, and relies entirely on public and corporate donations so the support is very much appreciated. It costs £2.5M per year to keep the helicopter operational and each call-out costs around £2,000 in fuel and operational costs.

The helicopter can reach anywhere in Scotland in 75mins, 90% of Scotland's population within 25mins, and anywhere in Fife within 15mins. Since 2013, SCAA has responded to 1,914 time-critical call outs, with 341 in 2017.

Helen MacGregor, Regional Fundraising Manager commented: 'The SCAA is delighted to add to our growing base of support in Fife with this generous donation from the team at RWE Markinch. The SCAA can reach an emergency in Fife within 15 minutes flying expert paramedic skills straight to the scene and offering rapid transport to an appropriate hospital for specialist treatment. We rely 100% on donations from the people and companies of Scotland so donations like this have a significant impact.'

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RWE AG published this content on 23 October 2018 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 23 October 2018 08:57:09 UTC