Bedford’s mayor and the Borough Council’s former speaker have presented cheques to three charities to mark the end of a year of fundraising. Yesterday, the Trustees of the Mayor of Bedford’s Charity Committee awarded three charities £3,250.00 each.
Mayor Tom Wootton (Conservative) said: “We agreed last June that the East Anglian Air Ambulance Charity, John Bunyan Museum, the Bunyan Meeting, and Creating Memories. It is absolutely wonderful that all three are here today.”
Former council speaker cllr John Wheeler (Conservative/Kempston Rural and Wootton Ward) joined the Mayor in thanking all the sponsors who helped with the year’s fundraising, such as Woodlands Manor Hotel for providing a venue, and Universal Studios for auction items.
“Without them and without their prizes and without their auction, we would never have raised the amount of money that we did,” the mayor added.
John Bunyan Museum
Nicola Sherhod, director at John Bunyan Museum, based on Mill Street, Bedford, said: “We’re located on the historic site of the original church — or rather, a barn in an orchard — where John Bunyan himself established a congregation,” she said.
“He was a humble man who lived locally and became a preacher. He believed that everyone should be able to read the Bible and speak freely about their faith — something that was not permitted at the time.
“He continued preaching despite the restrictions and was imprisoned for 12 years for doing so, he was only released when the law eventually changed.
“Visitors come to Bedford specifically to follow in John Bunyan’s footsteps and explore the local heritage linked to him.”
More information about their work can be found at bunyanmeeting.co.uk.
Creating Memories
Speaking about the charity chosen by the former speaker, Clare Dunkinson said Creating Memories was founded six years ago by Pritti Saggi.
It also creates treasured memories for people with life-limiting or terminal conditions who live in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Buckinghamshire.
“We aim to make around 12 wishes a year come true for mainly children,” Ms Dunkinson said.
“Recently, we sent a little girl called Olivia to Formula One, and she had an amazing day. She got to meet Lewis Hamilton and George Russell as part of the memory; she was bowled over because they’re huge heroes of hers.”
The committee heard that not all the wishes are “huge and involve celebrity”, but sometimes they are something that people may take for granted, such as cooking a pizza.
More information can be found at creatingmemories.org.uk.
East Anglian Air Ambulance
Andy Lewis, a volunteer with East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA), told the committee that this was the charity’s 25th anniversary.
“We average around about 3,000 missions a year,” he said, “We [also] have some critical care cars and they can be used when the helicopters are unable to fly due to technical issues or the weather.”
Mr Lewis added that the most common type of incident is cardiac arrest, and that EAAA offers CPR training
“Last year we trained over 30,000, and we have a target of 35 to 40,000 this year,” he said.
More information on CPR training can be found at eaaa.org.uk/learn-cpr.
By John Guin, Local Democracy Reporter
and Paul Hutchinson, Bedford Independent
