The Grand Master Most Wor. Bro. Edward Stevenson and Deputy Grand Master Wor. Bro. Harold Henning recently presented a cheque for £15,000 to staff of the Air Ambulance NI.  

The money was raised by the membership through the sale of Covid-19 badges and banners.  

The Grand Master said: “We were delighted to visit the Air Ambulance and present a cheque in support of this wonderful service. “Nobody knows when they may find themselves in need of the services of the Air Ambulance, which has already saved many lives here in Northern Ireland.” 

Grace Williams, Area Fundraising Manager for the Air Ambulance NI Charity, said, “We are so inspired by the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland’s amazing fundraising effort and we are humbled they decided to support of wonderful work of Air Ambulance NI in this way. As a service we rely heavily on charitable donations to keep the medical team in the air, delivering critical care to patients who have suffered trauma throughout Northern Ireland- without this type of support, the team simply couldn’t fly. The past year has been especially challenging for fundraising and we’ve seen a dramatic downturn in our income.  

I want to take this opportunity to personally thank the Grand Master Most Wor. Bro. Edward Stevenson, Deputy Grand Master Wor. Bro. Harold Henning and Rev Mervyn Gibson and everyone who supported this unique fundraiser. Despite the current pandemic, our Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) is as busy as ever, responding to on average 2 calls daily somewhere in Northern Ireland. Since we first launched in July 2017, Air Ambulance NI have been tasked on more than 2,266 occasions. 

The charity Air Ambulance NI, in partnership with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, provides the HEMS for Northern Ireland. The HEMS team attend patients who are seriously ill or injured, bringing emergency pre-hospital care direct to the casualty with the aim of saving lives, brains and limbs. With a daily operational cost of £5,500, we wanted to sincerely thank the Grand Lodge of Ireland for their invaluable support.”