Helipad to Hospital

The Challenge

44 miles. One Stretcher. Huge Push.

On 15 August we’ll carry a weighted stretcher 44 miles in a single day — from the Lincolnshire & Notts Air Ambulance helipad at RAF Waddington to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham. QMC has no helipad of its own, so when the air ambulance brings a patient here, the crew lands at Highfields Playing Fields and the last stretch is completed by road. We’ll finish exactly the same way — carrying the stretcher through Highfields to QMC — mirroring that final leg on foot. We’re aiming to be done before nightfall: around fifteen hours on our feet, carrying a load that stands in for the weight of a casualty.

RAF Waddington

LNAA Helipad · Start

44 miles

QMC Nottingham

Finish · via Highfields Playing Fields

Every step. Every mile.

Every donation keeps them flying.

Every pound goes straight to the Lincolnshire & Notts Air Ambulance. Each mission costs between £4,000 and £5,000, and right now they’re flying an average of five times a day — that’s at least five people a day getting life-saving help within minutes. Whatever you can give helps keep them in the air.

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The Why

Why the air ambulance

The Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance is the kind of service you hope you’ll never need — and are endlessly grateful exists when the worst happens. Its crew delivers the equivalent of an A&E department to the scene of an emergency, and can reach a major trauma centre in as little as eight minutes. It flies day and night, 365 days a year, funded almost entirely by donations rather than government money.

For us, it’s also personal. Our grandmother, Alice — “Mamma” — quietly supported the air ambulance for years, because she understood how much it matters to have expert help when someone’s out of options. We lost her to cancer in April 2025. Carrying this stretcher is our way of continuing her support, and celebrating the generous, family-first person she was.

This one’s for Mamma.

The Charity

About the Air Ambulance

The Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance brings the skills of a hospital emergency team straight to the roadside. Its doctors and paramedics deliver the equivalent of an A&E department at the scene, and can reach a major trauma centre in as little as eight minutes — by air, day or night, every day of the year.

Crucially, it receives no direct government funding for its missions. It stays in the air thanks to donations — which is exactly why challenges like ours matter. Every pound we raise goes straight to the charity.

Visit ambucopter.org.uk → Registered Charity No. 1017501

~£4,000

Average cost per mission

Life-saving missions a day

£13m+

To raise every year

8 min

To a major trauma centre

Our Story

From bikes to hikes

This isn’t the first daft thing we’ve done for someone we love. It started with a bike.

2024 · Four Blokes on Bikes

The Big Midlands Bike Ride

When Matt’s dad, Barry Oak, lost his battle with cancer in March 2024, we rode from Nottingham — where Barry grew up — to Skegness and back over his birthday weekend, following the canals and back roads he loved. It was to thank the Bostonian Ward that cared for him in his final weeks.

£3,265 raised

2026 · Four Blokes on Hikes

Two years on, we’ve swapped saddles for boots. In memory of our grandmother, Alice “Mamma” Hill, we’re carrying a weighted stretcher 44 miles for the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance — a cause she quietly supported for years. Same four of us, same reason: family.

The challenge ahead

Read the original Big Midlands Bike Ride story →

The four of us

Matt

Works in AI & tech. Training for military-level events like Paras 10 and the Winter Fan Dance in January 2027 — but spends most of his time sat behind a laptop.