Kirby Hamill, the 70-year-old woman who was flown to hospital by air ambulance after being knocked down by thieves stealing a telehandler from Clipsham Quarry in Rutland last year (see NSS December 2010), has raised a record sum for the air ambulance at a fete held at Clipsham Hall, where the quarry owners live.

The event raised £6,756.16, which the air ambulance say is the largest sum ever donated from the proceeds of a function following a rescue like this. Mrs Hamill is pictured right (in the centre) handing over a cheque to Rutland air ambulance fundraiser Sophie Stevens. On the right is volunteer co-ordinator John Nowell.

Thieves took the telehandler just days after a new access road to the quarry had been opened so that lorries would no longer have to go through the village of Clipsham on their way to and from the quarry.