Air Ambulance in Vivary Park Taunton

Hundreds of people were in Taunton's Vivary Park today enjoying the spring sunshine and watching the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance do there stuff. It was nice to see all ages relaxing in the sunshine and enjoying the park in general, feeding ducks, picnicing,or just lazing but also that so many wandered to the end of the park for the special event.

It was a combined effort by the road safety partnership, of all the emergency services who got together to raise awareness for safety issues and raise money for the Air Ambulance.

  As I stood with everyone watching the helicopter land and take off again,a mum standing next to me summed it up very well, she said how wonderful they were and how all the children loved to see them, then quickly added that adults did too.

The guys from Green Watch of the Devon and Somerset Fire & Rescue Service Taunton station, together with the police, ambulance and air ambulance, staged  crash scene,where the driver ( RTC instructor Andy Troake) had to be extracted from his car by removal of the roof with the jaws of life and strapped to a spinal board then take to the air ambulance. Within only a few minutes of leaving the park, the helicopter returned to drop him off & I asked him what it was like.

Andy belongs to the fire service but is seconded to the Road Safety Partnership and is usually instructing others on what to do. He said it was very different being on the receiving end, it was his first time on a stretcher with his head strapped to a spinal board and with all the activitiy going on a round him it was quite disorientating. He said: " For someone who has been involved in an accident I should think it would be quite daunting. The helicopter was fantastic, the speed it goes, we just went to Wellington and back in that short time." 

Children were having great fun clambering in and out of police cars and the fire engine and sitting on the motorbikes.

The South Western Ambulance Service were on the job recruiting First Responders for Wellington and Bishops Lydeard, such a vital service all manned by volunteers which has been gooing for a few years now.( there's that Big Society already in action again!)

A Mini Moto (minature motorbike) which had been confiscated by the police and would normally have been crushed, was being used as a talking point to get across the fact that they cannot be legally used on the road without insurance etc.

It was a great atmosphere on such a lovely sunny day and everyone was enjoying it. Hopefully next year will attract even more.