Surrey County Councillor for Caterham Valley, Sally Marks, was presented with a cheque for ￡2,500 by David Knight, owner of Knights Garden Centres in Woldingham and Chelsham this afternoon, Friday 19th July. Sally accepted the cheque on behalf of Surrey Air Ambulance, of which she is a great supporter. Pam Miriam of Knights organised the fundraising, collecting donations from customers with collecting boxes at the tills and holding raffles.

On presenting the cheque to Sally Marks, David Knight said: "It is a great pleasure to give this donation to Surrey Air Ambulance which is a wonderful service for the people of Surrey. It was a fantastic charity for us to support but the catalyst was Pam! As a local business we like to be very supportive of charities in this area. Our customers always give very generously to our nominated charities."

Sally Marks was instrumental in helping to bring the Air Ambulance service to Surrey.

On receiving the cheque she said: "About five years ago I thought it extraordinary when I learned that Surrey did not have an Air Ambulance service. I realised what a thoroughly vital job they do so I went to the Surrey County Council cabinet and told them that the Air Ambulance service were ￡50,000 short of starting in Surrey. I am delighted to say that the Council managed to find the money to get Surrey Air Ambulance off the ground.

"The Air Ambulance service relies on the help and support of the public and on their behalf, I would like to say thank you very much to Knights and their generous customers for this fantastic cheque."

In a statement, Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance said:  "It is a real pleasure to thank Knights Garden Centres on behalf of the Air Ambulance Team.  We are so lucky that the Air Ambulance flies with not only a critical care paramedic, but also a senior level doctor on board, which means that we really do deliver A&E to the scene of medical emergencies and traumas.

"Having a doctor enables us to provide advanced interventions that would normally only happen in the hospital environment - undoubtedly saving lives and improving long-term outcomes for the patients.  Recently you may have heard that we are now also able to give blood transfusions which is another important advance.

"We are also planning to start flying at night, and hopefully this will be in the very near future.  We need to be here when you need us - not only when the sky is light!  This will be another huge achievement and an extremely important service for the South East.

"There is no doubt it is the support of organisations and customers like you and yours which enables us to operate and to make so many advancements."

Surrey Air Ambulance can be seen attending the scene of an accident in Warlingham on '24 Hours at Accident and Emergency' on Channel 4 next Wednesday, 24th July at 9pm.