Visual PR LIVE!

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Greetings.

Welcome to, what are we at?

Episode 4 of Visual PI.

Hopefully you just picked up

the audience in the

background there because

we're going to have

multiple guests coming on.

In a moment, we've got the legendary land.

There we go.

Forget about the mic.

Legendary land.

Naomi's just wetting herself

about that one now.

And Naomi Barker from

Wiltshire Air Ambulance.

And I'm live from Wiltshire Air Ambulance.

We've actually closed the

blind at the moment because

it's very bright out there

and it was affecting the camera.

They've been doing all sorts

of maintenance work on the helicopter.

That's been up and down and

whirring and all sorts of noise.

So hopefully you'll continue

to hear us through this one.

But welcome.

Don't forget, if you are watching,

if you've got any comments

or questions as the show progresses,

make sure that you drop the comment,

whether you're watching it on LinkedIn,

YouTube, Facebook, or indeed on Twitter,

although I don't know

whether I get those comments through,

but the rest of them I do.

Feel free, ask.

If we've got the guests on

and something comes to mind,

I'll be able to put it up

on screen and you will be

able to get them answered.

And it's much better when it's interactive,

these shows.

But today's topic is visible brand

creates deeper connections.

Visible brand equals deeper connections.

That's the key thing.

And one of those that really

struck me and why I created

Visual PR in the first

place with my media work

and my commercial work sort

of coming together really

was that we all use images

and we advertise in

different ways and they are

vital 100% and I'll never

stop doing them.

Same as written PR, it's all vital stuff.

but there's no personal

connection to that.

It's getting that information across,

but it doesn't necessarily

enable you to connect personally.

If you are reading a script

to camera or even just

being stereotypically interviewed,

I know Naomi and I were

talking about this earlier,

how it just doesn't feel

natural to the person on the camera.

And it doesn't feel natural

when you're watching it either.

So we really tried to make

this a conversational piece, you know,

even now where it is only

me at this stage and I'll prove it.

I'll go to the group.

It is currently only me,

but this will change shortly.

It just doesn't feel natural to everyone.

Once we have the conversational,

the integrity rises, the flow rises.

Heck,

we can go on to subjects that we

didn't plan to talk about

because it was interlinked.

People know me,

know that will happen a lot.

Even if you are just

recording pieces to your phone,

you're grabbing this conversational piece,

chatting to your phone.

It can give you that natural content,

so consider it.

But what happens,

the problem with that is

that people dry up because

they're trying to still

just present to camera and

there can sometimes be,

is it professional enough?

Well,

there lies why we do what we do here

in reality.

If someone is asking you

questions and you're

getting into a free flow

and you're going to start

remembering things that you

might have forgotten if you

were just reading the script to camera,

even if you were trying to

freestyle it a little bit.

If we've got people

interacting with comments and questions,

it's a much more engaging.

And people start to really connect to you,

connect to you as a person,

connect to you as an organization,

you as a brand.

All of those things suddenly make sense.

And the reason why Visual PR

is called PR is not because

I suddenly do all the written PR.

I work with PR legends that

know what they're doing

with the written word.

It is about the sales

message not being in your face.

It is not overtly, buy my product,

buy my service.

I'm brilliant.

My people are brilliant, et cetera.

The sales message is under the surface,

and you're educating them.

You're connecting with them

in various different ways

that resonates at the right time,

resonates at the right time,

and you suddenly reach out to them and go,

you had that show when you

were talking about X, Y,

and Z. I hadn't thought about it,

but I've got that problem,

and I really want to speak

to you about that.

That was incredibly helpful.

So you get this variety of

information that makes

sense at the right time.

Customers have choices.

Now, if they see images of your products,

if they even see videos of your products,

they can go and look at

that product or service

from someone else.

There's no personal connection.

They've just seen your

version of that product.

Even if it looks different,

they're just looking at different ones.

They'll go and look at a different one.

Then they'll get prices.

Then they'll work out where

they're going to go.

People buy from people.

It's a mantra that's been around forever.

And so if you give them that

opportunity to connect with

you as a person, and that's the royal you,

whether it's just the one

person or whether it's

multiple members of the team,

that you enable them to be

brought to life,

that is where they can go,

that's where I'm going to

buy the product or the service from.

we create you know the the

ability to connect with you

with your people with the

company with the brand

philosophy experts that

know your industry well so

that you're getting an

outside view you can have

them on as guests um giving

them education insights

training demonstrations

tours you name it anything

is possible and you do all

of those things you've now

created multiple touch points

And Mike probably talks

about touch points in

branding and marketing.

That's one of the buzz phrase,

although he's looking blank at me now.

So it would appear that he

doesn't necessarily.

But it lets them see and

feel the real you.

There is a phrase that we buy on emotion.

We justify on logic.

Well, how about when you have these shows,

suddenly we're able to

address both those points

at the same time.

Normally, it's whilst it's emotion,

you get them to sort of

want to buy it from you emotionally.

They then go away and think

about it before coming back

to make a decision.

They're normally thinking it

through logically to try and justify that,

yes,

it's OK for me to buy this product or

service.

Well,

because we're creating that connection,

you know, not just here's the product,

here's the service.

We're creating the connection.

You're able to address both

those things at the same time.

So it opens it up.

We then obviously take this

full show and we create the clips.

And this is important for

you is that I always

advocate is that if you're

going to do something longer form,

we flip it on its head here.

We create the longer form

first and we create clips

from it rather than coming

up with a whole string of

clips to use later.

in your social media your

digital marketing efforts

take the longer form get

these clips that are good

sound bites whether it's oh

that was a really powerful

comment or that was quite

funny and it's going to

interact whatever it is the

clips are created for you

the trick is make sure

you're then posting them

you put some content in the

in the texture part of your

message that helps it get

found you're going to have hashtags in it

They're going to watch the videos.

We know videos are the

bigger one over text and images,

et cetera.

But you'll always put,

watch the full video here,

the full episode here.

And you're taking them to

your YouTube channel or

your Facebook page with it

or your LinkedIn page with

it all on so they can watch

that full episode.

We can rip the audio out and

you can also point to your podcast.

But then your podcast points

to your YouTube channel,

your YouTube channel points

to your podcast.

Everything's fertilizing each other.

Am I allowed to say that?

Yeah.

All right.

I've been given a nod.

That's OK.

So it's fertilized each other.

And equally,

you remember that blog page on

your website, you know,

the one that's not been touched for, what,

18 months or more?

not add any content on it,

and yet Google love it because it's free,

you know, updating content.

Well,

suddenly every single month you're

going to have a description

of the episode and you're

going to embed the video

whilst also linking back to

the audio again.

Everything interlinks and

you're suddenly the missing

piece between PR and marketing.

takes off but I recommend

you always try to make sure

that you link your

different bits of marketing

and PR and all that heck

even in the written PR we

can have branded QR codes

that take you you know

we'll automatically update that QR code

that's either in a written

PR or it's printed on your banner,

we can update it to always

point it to your latest episode.

You don't need to throw the banner away,

sorry, Mike, and start again,

but it will automatically,

we update it to always

point to the latest episode

if that's what our client wants.

so that is my tips about

making sure that visible

brand deeper connections

let them feel you and your

brand and your people and

your knowledge and all of

that so that they will have

a deeper personal

connection with you and

then they'll reach out to

start those conversations

and that's what we're

looking for don't think of

it as as trying to sell in

this content think about

driving the conversations towards you

Hence, visible brand, deeper connections.

That's enough of me waffling

on for my part because I

hope you get the message.

What I really wanted to do is,

as I flip over,

because I've got a very

special guest that's going

to come up next.

Oh, no, sorry, it's not.

It's Mike.

No, I'm only joking.

I called you legendary land

already so I can get away with it.

someone whose speciality is

brands and about what that

brand means and how you get

it recognized and known.

I'm delighted to introduce

Mike Bland from Nickel Design.

As if by magic, here he is.

I told you that we would

have someone in the hot seat eventually.

So we've got Mike Land.

Thanks so much.

Nice to meet you, mate.

Thanks, Chris.

I haven't seen you all day.

Oh, wait, yes, we came together.

You've just been sat there

being abused and everything

else as usual.

But thank you for joining us, mate.

I mean, this is your expertise, isn't it,

is the brand.

I mean, before we go into the minutiae,

who are Nickel Design and what do you do?

uh lots of ways describing

what nickel design is uh we

are a creative agency uh

you could describe this as

a design and branding

agency um in the past we

were labeled as a marketing

support service but

basically we are a group of

designers that get together

and create wonderful

solutions for you I mean

that almost feels like

you're doing yourself an

injustice there really

because I love how you kind of take this

I mean,

I know you've opened up in a

presentation numerous times where you go,

what is a brand?

You ask the audience.

And invariably, it will be a logo.

And whilst that's a consideration,

it's not the be all and end all, is it?

No.

When I talk about the brand,

what is a brand,

people instantly think of,

they identify the first

thing they think of when

they think of a brand.

So if I said BMW,

you're probably not

thinking of the whole car.

You might not be thinking of

a model of a car.

You're probably thinking of

the logo because it's the

first thing that crosses your mind,

pops into your head.

But it's not the products you sell.

It's not the services.

It's not the item.

It's an experience.

You're selling an experience.

You're selling a solution.

And when you say experience,

I've seen it often referred

to as experience.

It's the feelings that you

have as soon as someone mentions that.

Yes, it's emotions.

So when you wear certain shoes,

is it the shoe's comfort?

Is it how it makes you feel?

Maybe it's where you wear that shoe.

I mean, you know,

the age-old thing of

Christian Louboutins are

restaurant shoes because it

can take you from the car

to the restaurant.

You're posher than me, Mike.

Sorry,

but you're not going to walk down

the road.

You're not going to go on a

stomp about to hand-win them.

So, you know, it's that experience.

And it's also identifying to

you and everybody else.

So when you see somebody

cross their feet and you

see those red soles of the shoes,

you instantly know it's

Christian Louboutin.

So it's those identifiable

or it's the label on the

jacket or the style or the

buttons or whatever it is.

I mean, how do you...

Really think about that, though,

when you have an SME or a

startup coming to you,

which is going to be a regular thing,

presumably.

We've talked about some big

household names there and you kind of go,

well, I can't relate to that.

I've got to start somewhere

but you need to be sort of

thinking that far ahead

don't you yeah I it's very

easy for me to talk about

um bigger brands the the

blue chip stuff um but we

all have a similar issue

and that is to get our

brand message our brand

communication over to our

customers and clients yes

Now,

whether you're selling a product or

service, you as an SME or a one man band,

you still got to engage with your clients,

your customers in a certain way.

So Apple and a painter and

decorator still got the same issues now.

difference is they've got to

there's a difference in

overheads print costs the

amount of customers they

need you know shareholders

whereas a you know painter

and decorators to thinking

about uh the amount of

paint he uses the amount of

time he needs to do the job

and stuff so there's about

overheads difference in

overheads about yeah yeah yeah of course

But equally,

and I'm going off on a slight

tangent probably too early here.

Yeah, you know I do this all the time.

But equally is that I'm sort

of almost there thinking of

there is a creating a brand,

but there is a rebrand,

and that presumably is

something that you get

where suddenly hindsight plays a part,

that you kind of go, oh,

my message has slightly changed,

or I've learned my business

a little bit more,

and therefore I want to

portray this in some way.

And they have to throw these ideas at you,

and you've got to

assimilate that into something.

that those were the ideal

questions or answers that

we need uh basically when

people come to me and say

I'm looking for a rebrand

we ask them why do you

think you need a rebrand

and the amount of times

that people said my sales

have dropped my messages is

not getting through now

that might not be your

rebrand it might be your

marketing it might be your

message it might be who

you're targeting so if you

think about who you target

for car manufacturers for

painting decorators aiming

as a paint and decorator to

a teenage level

is not going to be the right

age bracket for them.

They need to be thinking

about who's moved into a house,

who's got a flat,

who's decorating a business

or a house or a room.

It's about those different levels.

So it's about making sure

that your message is going

out to the right people.

Then there's a whole plethora of things,

what message, what platform,

um what time um how you're

approaching them the tone

of voice yeah there was so

many things to consider and

that's before you think

about does my logo look

right and when we talk

about brand most people

think I want a brand

refresh because they're

thinking of their logo yes

it might be just the tone of voice

And there lies a tricky one.

And I always feel for you

people in that space,

because I kind of relate to

a number of different

industries that sort of like cover,

you know, aspects of this,

is that us as business owners come and go,

yeah, this is my business.

This is what's amazing.

This is what's great.

This is what I want to do.

But you have to take that somehow.

And it could be, you know,

it could be the logo.

It could be the colours.

It could be the wording.

I mean,

we were touching on things that

seem as simple as a banner,

a pop-up banner.

Yeah.

If I was not controlled,

I would just vomit words

all over this banner and it

would do no good to man nor beast.

So you have to pull that

back and kind of pick out, right, okay,

based on that,

what we really need to do

is just do that.

Even where on the banner

that it appears can make a difference.

But you also said when we

were driving down here is

that there could be a place

for your banner to just

exist with your logo on and

presumably contact details.

But, you know,

the be all and end all is

your logo because you're

trying to create that

almost subliminal connection to.

I think Mike Land,

I picture that nickel design,

I see Chris Dawes, I see the visual PR.

it's amazing how the mind

works and you've got to

play with that yeah yeah

which I guess is fun as

well well yeah it's great

fun because obviously every

day is different every

client is slightly

different um thank God

because otherwise

everything will be quite

plain yeah but you think

about it all we're trying

to do is get them to say I

want to know more that's

the only question

And there lies the mistake is that, again,

me as a business owner,

and I'm terrible for this,

is that I feel like I'm

trying to fully educate them,

fully sell to them right now.

And it's like, no, no, no, just no.

And I guess that's why I'm

saying even with these

shows in reality is that it

doesn't need to be

absolutely everything given

away straight away.

It's like, look,

you're trying to make people go,

I want to come speak to you

to find out more.

There is a conversation there.

Well,

you just think about all of the

bigger brands that will ask

you a very simple, I mean,

we could go all the way

over to perfume adverts

where you watch a perfume

ad on TV and you're not

sure what you're watching.

You have no idea about the

smell because obviously it

is an experience.

You need to be there to

smell what that perfume does,

what it feels like,

the smell and everything else.

You're not going to get that

on the TV advert.

And they spend a lot of

money to make you go,

I need to know more.

I want to know more.

um so that's the same for

most businesses a painter

and decorator he might do

small big large whole rooms

whole buildings might have

20 staff but all he needs

you to do is to inquire

make an inquiry do you have

a challenge where people

overlook the importance of

if I call it branding.

Yes.

Do you have a, I mean,

cause it's very easy.

We already said that people

just think it's logo

including like maybe the color of it,

but that there's a whole lot more to it.

Do you have a real challenge

with people not

appreciating scope of what you do?

Yeah.

I think that's probably the hardest,

hardest part of being a designer,

being part of this creative

agency is trying to educate

other people and the

importance of brand and

There's so many people.

I mean, you just think about it.

The amount of times you go

out to a business meeting

and you'll meet half a

dozen financial people.

SJP, they might be independent.

What will make them different?

You touched on it earlier

where you said people buy from people.

Yeah.

But because of the pandemic

and the way we use the Internet,

we spend most of our time

staring into a screen,

into a mobile phone looking

for information.

So basically what's going to

make you stand out is that

looks more attractive or

that one's closer to me or

I want to know more about what he can do.

or she can do and it's I

like that it's even

relevant isn't it yes you

know it can be as simple as

that at times I was a um a

networking event recently

and I won't name names but

this particular person said

look I accept that in my

industry there's all these

other people you could go and speak to

I know just as much,

if not more than all of them,

that they can say the same about me.

It will come down to whether you like me,

whether we fit, whether we connect.

Yeah, I mean, there is other parts to it.

I mean, how unique your service is.

Or, correct me if I'm wrong,

I've also learned more

recently is how you portray.

So it might not be actually unique,

but the message could be unique.

Because I've seen some people,

and I think it came under the rebranding,

is that they kind of go, right,

I'm actually changing my product line.

And it's like, no, no, no, no, no.

Provide the same service,

but if you actually market

in a different angle.

You know, I mean,

we were chatting is that

obviously off the back of

what we do with all this, you know,

the media setup is that, yeah,

absolutely.

We can do all sorts of video work.

Looking forward to Tom

joining me next month as my

video editor and producer,

growing the team.

And we'll be able to offer even more.

I won't start marketing

myself as another video company,

another media company.

It's like, yeah,

of course we can say yes

when we work with people,

but we're going with a

brand along the line of this.

Some people might say, well,

isn't this a podcast but with video?

Yeah, I guess so.

But we supercharge it.

We can make it live.

We do the peripheral

services of post-production.

And so it's about the

message could be unique.

Yeah, the message.

The people hadn't thought of

it that way or whatever.

The tone as well.

The tone is so important,

especially in branding.

the way you talk to your customers,

I think the one that

springs to mind for me is

Harley-Davidson.

Harley-Davidson went off

with this huge campaign about,

are you adventurous enough, big enough,

strong enough,

tough enough to own a Harley-Davidson?

Which is a great way of marketing a thing.

I feel that I'm tough enough

to have a Harley-Davidson,

but now they've realized

that a third of the market, I think it is,

are female riders.

Really?

Yeah.

Now,

I'm not saying that women aren't tough,

but they had to think.

They had to change the message.

Yeah.

So basically,

it was more about being adventurous.

How far are you willing to go?

I mean, you hear it now.

Mini, I think, is a mini adventure,

isn't it?

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So they advertised as the mini adventure.

And then you start,

and it's only when you

start to get into the

messaging side of it,

you realize how clever some

of these companies have been.

Yes.

I know most people probably switch off,

go make a cup of tea when

the adverts come on.

It's that gap between a

program where they can go chat,

nip to the loo, go and make a cuppa.

I love adverts.

I love watching the advertising.

companies have spent

thousands of thousands trying to hone,

trying to sharpen that message.

So it really cuts deep.

So you understand you want

to know more and you're

willing to stop what you're doing.

Look on your phone, have a flick,

write it down in a pad to say, I must,

you know, check my insurance.

I must phone up the thing about the roof.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's just those, those touch points,

like you said earlier.

Exactly.

Yep.

The, the, the touch points are important.

Yeah.

Um,

so one of the other messages

that I think because you

and I have obviously had

many discussions over the

last 12 months because

there's a real nice link up

with what what we attempt

to do and what you're doing

as well and one of those

key ones is that making

sure that sales message you

know we've just been very

you've given some great

examples there but it's not

always about the sales

message being slap you in the face

And although I put it down

as the PR mentality, that PR,

the sales message is under the surface,

not going, do your deal, son,

come and buy my product.

You need that message to

just keep connecting with people.

And I mean,

I'm picking up on what you were

saying there as well,

is that isn't there like a

cyclical thing to this

where you kind of nail it?

You know, I mean, you mentioned Mini.

I'm not sure they use that

Mini Adventure anymore.

I think that's been and gone.

Yeah, probably.

But there's a great example

is that that was brilliant.

It worked.

I mean, crikey, I still,

for those of you who know me,

I commentate on motorsport

professionally as well.

And if it's like a Mini race,

I still come up with that

line during them.

You know, it's stuck.

But they haven't stood still

and just kept ramming that

down our throats.

They've changed it.

I'll tell you one that's

just suddenly come to mind

that's brilliant with this

cyclical thing.

Tango.

Yes.

The you being tangos come back.

Yes, I know.

Because they stopped that

because I think there was

the controversy over people

were suddenly doing that.

I think it was kids in the

playground slapping each other.

But they then killed that

off for a while just this last week.

You probably saw a tango out there.

Yes.

And I'm like, my daughter,

12-year-old daughter,

would have never seen it in

its original guise with the slapping.

And I think it was a prison

guard trying tango in a

prison cell after he

confiscated it off her.

And that's now.

But

See, recognition, recall straight away.

I knew what you were going to say.

So that goes the other, you know,

even deeper on that cyclical.

I was about to I was

originally just going is

that you have this great success,

but you don't then just

necessarily stay with that

for the rest of your life.

Is that you then go, right,

we now need to go somewhere

else with it as well.

Doesn't mean that's failed.

It's like we've got to refresh, rebrand,

remessage, go with something different.

but you can go back to those

as well in the future

there's probably a load of

brands so if I said nike

yeah the strap line for

nike just do it there we go

yeah mcdonald's did it oh

no that's the music sorry

are you loving it yes yeah

uh howdy the vorsprung

technique yeah no one knows

what it means but

It's designed by technology

or something like that.

I knew you'd know, Mike.

Those little bits,

and even though they change their message,

so the Audi adverts won't

drill into the Volkswagen Dirk technique,

but it'll pop up as a

reminder on an advert

because people have remembered that line.

You'll know it's Audi straight away.

You don't even need the Audi logo anymore.

You know it's there.

yeah I know it is good I

mean where do you so at

what point should people be

coming and advice from

someone that's an expert in

that branding and what

journey what will you work

on and create with them uh

I know we've said logo but

you know beyond that what

else uh branding

So branding is tailoring the message.

So you have your brand,

which is the company experience.

Now,

everybody says about the logo being

the brand.

So you've already said the

logo isn't your brand,

but it is a visual item.

And then there's the message.

So the message, the logo,

the visual identity, colors, visual stuff,

that's all part of the branding.

That's how you tailor your message.

So it's about tailoring that message.

So that is the element that

we would love to work on.

Obviously, if we can get to the start,

I work on your logo, your brand, voice,

tone, everything from the very beginning.

Which is great because we

had Joe Starr on.

Was it last episode of Lost Track?

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

uh and of course that was

very much about the brand

voice which is is again

sort of like intrinsically

linked to your thing that

then you're kind of like

okay how do we now bring

that brand voice that we've

identified to life and then

it lies with you and joe

would know I mean what I

think it was warren

who said it takes 20 years

to build a brand and it

takes five minutes to destroy it.

Yes, that's no.

And that is simply just by written word.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No.

And it's so, so true.

And then, of course,

once you've created all of

that side of things that

we've then got the the

collateral you can create

off the back of that.

Yeah.

I think people forget the

communication side.

Yes.

So that is everything.

So brand and design is everywhere.

Everything we see, everything we touch,

everything experience,

there'll be a design

element of that all the way through.

And then there's the communication.

So people will think, well,

I've sent out my brochure,

sent out an email.

I'm giving them a business card.

But there's social media, there's news,

advertising, recruitment.

Even the way you recruit new staff,

that is part of your brand message.

The reviews you get,

that all contributes to your reputation,

your brand reputation,

and what people perceive as you.

so if you look great sound

great um smell great but

your reviews are all one

star because he didn't do

this he didn't do that yeah

provide this that destroys

that reputation will break

down that brand so it's

everything your

communication is all part

of it yeah and I mean in

terms of collateral it

could be flyers brochures

banners anything that's printed but

There's a whole side that we don't touch.

So as a creative design agency,

we tend to stick with the

items that we can control.

So it's produced, printed.

And then there's another

whole step that's above that,

which is what we call the digital side.

So it used to be below the

line and above the line advertising.

So above the line used to be TV and radio.

And because you had to rely

on people like yourself

that has to do the recording,

where it goes out to,

where it's published,

we can control a lot of those elements.

So if you were in TV advertising,

obviously you need to talk to a channel.

So there used to be two sides of that.

No, it makes sense.

I mean,

the other one as well is just give

us a quick synopsis.

Some of your clients that

you have worked with over the years.

I always love this.

Really impressive.

Yeah.

So I've been very fortunate.

So when I moved to Swindon

to go to art college,

the first job I got was with a newspaper.

But as I worked my way through,

I got to meet a guy called

Martin Fullerton.

And my first job was art

directing a photo shoot for

Devere Hotels.

Wow.

So we went over to Cambridge.

I directed a photo shoot and

I didn't realize this is

going to be a lot of their brochures.

And then over the time it was Chevron,

Texaco, Battersea Dogs Home, Blue Cross,

Leaks of London.

And it's just grown from there,

which is what makes my job different.

But there is so many local

companies as well.

There is.

And I did want to,

I was about to follow that

up by making this absolutely clear.

We're sort of like having

some excitement here about

the level of these,

but there is plenty of

local companies that you

work with as well, which is cool.

How do they get hold of you?

I do have that here.

Let me just go down as if by magic.

Yeah.

He says, is this somewhere?

There we go.

Nickeldesign.co.uk,

N-I-C-K-E-L design.co.uk.

Your company, you started it?

Yes.

Yeah.

Yes.

It had a different name back in 2004,

but that was the historical

start of the company.

Yeah.

And it's grown ever since, really.

There's been a few changes over the years,

as a lot of companies do, but yeah,

we're still going strong.

Always what you wanted to do?

Was this branding?

Yeah, well, I've been...

doing it now for 30-odd years now.

Yeah, yeah.

I know.

It makes me sick.

He doesn't look old enough for that,

does he?

I know, I know.

We're now starting to touch

on to the personal you,

which is going to gradually

lead us seamlessly into the next section,

is you're like an absolute fitness freak,

aren't you?

You're nuts.

You do loads of stuff.

Yes.

I enjoy the fitness.

I don't probably look like I

enjoy the fitness, but, yeah,

I do enjoy the fitness.

Yeah,

including that you're a spin instructor.

Yeah, I teach spin every week.

Other cycling products are available.

Yeah.

Indoor cycling,

as I should really label it.

And I teach a boot camp on a Saturday,

Saturday morning,

and then I run with certain

friends on Tuesdays at the

local running club.

yeah so there's local

running club and then pt

and a bit of running in

between love it I love it

now this leads us on to

don't forget by the way if

you've got comments or

questions for mike please

do pop them in uh in the

comments uh if that wasn't enough

you've got a big challenge

come up now I'm going to

step back and say your

motivation for a all the

fitness that you do all of

I mean I when we when I

picked you up earlier

seeing the the unbelievable

amount of medals whether

it's tough mother marathons

half marathons have you

done the desert the sabler

or not yet that's the no

that's bonkers though isn't

it you know that your

motivation for going and

doing these bonkers things

comes from an incident that

happened to you

30 years ago this month.

31 years ago this month, yeah.

So tell us about that.

Yeah,

so I was the sixth person in the UK

to have a bungee rope snap during a jump.

And I've been going through

over the paperwork recently

because we did the practice

poll last Thursday.

I'll come on to that in a minute.

Yeah, we'll come on to that in a minute.

We did a practice poll and I

went through my notes.

I realised all the little

details that hadn't

obviously pondered over or

jotted over the last few years.

Basically, it said that due to my accident,

I'll be unsuitable for

manual labour as a job.

And I didn't realize they

actually said it in the report.

But because of my memory loss,

damage to fractured pelvis,

damaged ribs on the left-hand side,

lost emotion to my neck and right leg,

I shouldn't be able to do

what I'm doing now.

And that was your motivator.

As soon as someone says you can't,

Oh, yeah.

That's the challenge, isn't it?

Some people accept it.

Some people will fight to

try and prove otherwise.

And I was one of those,

fight to prove otherwise.

I mean,

I'm deliberately not going to take

you too deep into the whole experience,

because without question,

it would have been horrific and traumatic,

et cetera, for you.

I have no doubt.

But it's motivated you to do these things.

And this next one,

and it's why we're here at

Semington at the Wiltshire

Air Ambulance HQ.

Thank you for hosting us.

It's lovely to be here.

Is that, understandably,

those guys are something

that really resonates with you.

That you go, wow, the service we do.

And we'll come into what they do, why,

et cetera, in more detail in a moment.

But you are going for a world record

the longest distance pulling

a van in a 24-hour vanpool.

Is that correct?

Yes, yes.

But I should point out,

this is partly Naomi's fault,

who you'll hear from later.

I threw around some ideas.

So I've ever sailed off the Spinnaker.

I've been locked in jail for a day.

I've done ballroom classes.

I've run marathons, auto race charity.

And we threw around some

ideas of me to pull a vehicle.

And the idea was just to

pull a vehicle so people

could sponsor me per mile, per minute,

per hour,

and just see how long I could go.

I was doing the usual

research about I wanted an

image to go on the poster.

So I was thinking Tom Stoltman or

Eddie Hall might be doing a van pull,

truck pull.

I could use some of their

imagery just to get

people's appetite for

wanting to get involved and sponsor,

donate.

And I found out there's a

world record for pulling a

vehicle further distance in 24 hours.

Now,

I thought, okay,

there's an option or

there's a chance for me

trying to go for the record,

depending on distance, obviously.

And yeah, that's where it started.

The details are one and a half ton vehicle,

24 hours over a flat ground,

the versus distance,

which at the moment is 32.1 miles.

And I'm aiming to do 36 miles.

you going that far above it

um because the guys that

got the current record said

unless somebody beats us by

a small margin they

wouldn't do it again and

they've done it twice oh

okay so uh yeah I just want

to make sure that if

comfortably yeah

comfortably above until

another strong person and

I'm just about to put

comment in uh to all of the

channels that you could be

watching this hopefully is

the link that you could go

to to support mike

supporting wheelchair air

ambulance so that has now

put the link uh it for you

all so you should see

that link that is now on

screen you'll now

understand why I've put it

in the comments because

that's a big long link that

we've got on there um but

please do if if you can

assist and in case you

wondered why before we move

on to that section I'm just

going to very quickly show

you a short video of why

it's so important

My name's Stuart Hirschbein, and in 2012,

when I was perceived to be a young,

fit PE teacher, I collapsed at home.

So I was paralysed down one side.

It looked to the signs of a stroke,

but in fact,

what I had was a condition

called hydrocephalus,

which is fluid on the brain.

I needed to get to the

hospital really fast,

and if I'd gone by land,

it would have taken me an

hour and a quarter to get

to the nearest hospital.

This is when Wiltshire

Ambulance entered my life,

and thank God they did.

They were there within 10

minutes to pick me up from

a light landing site and it

was in foggy conditions and

they managed to get me to Bristol.

It was a good job they got

me there in 10 minutes

because I was told later on

that I would not have

survived if I hadn't have

got there in that time.

I'm sat here today because

of the Wiltshire Ambulance.

It's enabled me to do

everything I ever wanted.

I've got back to full fitness.

It was a big fight but I got

back to full fitness.

I returned to work as a PE

teacher in a secondary school

And even more importantly,

I was able to get married

and have two beautiful children.

I owe my life to Wiltshire

Ambulance and I also give

back to them now any way I can,

doing things like talking,

guest speaking.

I've also ran the Bath Half

Marathon twice.

Wiltshire Ambulance is our

insurance of the sky.

Without the donations of the

people of Wiltshire,

it wouldn't be there and it

wouldn't have been there to

save me or actually give

life to my two daughters

and a husband to my wife.

Please donate.

Well, if that doesn't hit home,

nothing will.

I mean,

that was a prime example of

somebody that has still got a life,

somebody who's got a husband, a dad,

a son,

everything in that particular example.

And that resonates with yourself.

Yeah, definitely did.

So in terms of this

challenge to raise money,

I know you make the comment

saying it costs £12,000

Yes, just over £12,000 per day.

Yeah, it is per day.

I mean,

it's just still because it blows my mind.

And it's not government funded,

which I know we're coming to.

I don't think it's lottery funded either.

No.

So it deserves and needs the

assistance to keep it

flying and all of the team

to help people that need it.

And a prime example there.

So completely understand the

support you're doing for it.

And even if the challenge is challenged,

still got a slight

challenge of the exact location.

You're hoping to do it next month,

but you keep getting

challenges with the

location because it's got to be flat.

It's got to be long enough

because they can't be,

if you were suddenly going downhill,

even though there must be

the argument that you'll

have to go uphill as well, but hey,

it's fine.

The world record rules are strict.

Yeah.

Um, so still fine.

If there's any bear that,

and don't do the usual ones like Cologne,

Lavington.

Yeah.

So line them.

They're not options, sadly.

No.

So basically I thought that

an airfield would be the

best option just because

the length and the width.

Yeah.

Turn around.

But it could be a road,

it could be around an industrial unit.

Which we saw on the way here, didn't we?

You suddenly went, that could be good.

So inside of what,

before it's been fitted out.

Yeah.

The inside of an industrial unit.

Unused industrial units.

So I did look at quite a few areas.

I mean, BMW, the Stratton plant at BMW.

Yeah, yeah.

They tried their best to

give me an area where I

could use part of the truck

route out coming out of the plant.

Yeah.

Unfortunately, it's not flat enough.

So it just got to that point

where I thought, I mean,

BMW offered to change their truck route.

No way.

They were looking at a shift

so that the shift pattern,

I could go in and I

wouldn't interrupt their shift patterns.

Incredible.

So they were really helpful

to trying to find somewhere.

But it doesn't have to be an airfield.

It's just that an airfield

was just the biggest big space.

Yeah, I mean,

we could be looking at motor

racing spaces or anything like that.

But again, a lot of circuits, for example,

aren't flat.

Most circuits aren't flat.

Yeah,

our beloved Castle Combe circuit just

up the road.

Yeah, Castle Combe's not flat enough.

Definitely isn't flat, that's for sure.

Yeah, up Avon Royce,

you don't want to be cleared up there.

Yeah, I think when I looked at Silverstone,

the Silverstone car park

was flatter than the actual track.

Obviously, the track is... Oh, really?

So it's just about finding that area.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

but last week you did the

practice pool yeah practice

pool um again given an

opportunity for for the

sponsors and because you

know it's not just sponsors

as in you know whatever

there is each organization

sponsoring and getting on

the van that you're pulling

putting the name on there

and in the publicity and

and you definitely copy

them in on it or tag them

in on everything

And you went down there with

the van and they could have

a go at pulling it.

Yeah.

How did that go?

Oh, that was fab.

I mean,

it was great that the BBC came down.

Of course, yeah.

Point West.

So Point West came down.

Ben Prater from BBC Wiltshire.

Yeah.

Doing the morning programme.

So I should be on the radio

all this week and the

morning programme and dotted around.

I think Swindon 105 FM as well.

They were down and they did

a report a couple of days ago,

I think it was.

So that was great.

And then there was the

support of my support team, family,

friends and everything else.

A couple of businesses came down.

Some of them just wanted

their photograph in the harness.

So they looked like they were pulling.

I'd have been one of them.

I think Paul Cav, David Cavanaugh,

he was just doing his photo

shoot of him strapped in,

leaning forward in the van.

And Bud, one of the supporters,

came over with his bacon roll on a plate,

served to him,

just so we could catch him out, really.

But I mean, it was a great event.

The weather,

I'm a bit brown because I

caught the sun all that day.

Cotswold Airport were very,

very kind enough to let us have the area,

which is Britannia Road.

That would have been a perfect road,

but the gradient doesn't

meet the criteria for the world records.

Otherwise,

I would have been doing it there.

It's so tough.

And I know to that camera

there is that show the T-shirt.

There you go.

So even in full regalia,

we've got it all there.

It's been clean since then.

Anything more you want to say on that side,

or should we get the charity in question?

No, I think we should get the charity in.

Okay, right.

It is now the charity spotlight section,

and we're going to do a quick...

jiggery-pokery of the

seating and what have you,

make sure I've got the right one.

It is a section of this show

that I'm very precious

about is the fact that it's

a charity spotlight.

It's not just about collecting money.

It's about understanding why they exist,

what they do,

because sometimes that

message is missed in the

information that's put out.

And it's really important to

make sure we really get

what they are there for.

how they do it and why we

should be listening to the

work that they're doing and

support them as much as we can.

So it's now the charity spotlight section.

Alone, we can do so little,

but together we can do so much.

Visual PR's charity

spotlight is about shining

a light on the amazing work

and objectives of charities

as they do not do it for publicity,

but it is important that we

know about them,

what they do and understand why.

Charity is not just about

making a donation,

it is about making a difference.

Yeah,

I'm afraid the bad news is with me

being a voiceover artist as well,

it means you still get my

voice even on those bits.

But delighted, Naomi Barker.

Now, I've got to remind myself,

I haven't put it down, your job title,

yes.

Corporate Partnerships Lead.

That's the one.

Looking after businesses.

Brilliant.

Welcome, Naomi.

Thank you.

I apologise if you're very

patiently slash nervously waiting there.

I'm giggling at some of the

things that you've been saying.

It's always going to be the way,

always going to be the way.

First things first about you, Naomi.

How long have you been here

with Wiltshire Air Ambulance?

It's just coming up to my 18th month.

Okay.

So a year and a half and

loving every minute of it.

Were you involved in the

charity sector before?

So I started life as a

primary school teacher and

then moved into the National Trust.

That's where my love of

fundraising came from.

Oh, wow.

So we realised that the

property that we were

looking after down in

Winchester was actually

falling down and we needed

to find a little bit extra cash.

So we put on a duck race and I thought,

I really enjoy this.

And then a few years later,

I was made redundant and a

job came up here and I thought,

you know what,

I'm just going to go for it

and see what happens.

And apparently one of the

personality traits that you

need to be a corporate

fundraiser is you like to talk.

So here I am.

Wasn't she saying earlier

that she's behind?

We bought that.

We went, oh, bless.

We now realize that was all fake.

That's not true.

Oh, entirely.

Okay, now in terms of wheelchair ambulance,

I know that this is going

to be stated in the office to some extent,

but speak to me,

what do wheelchair ambulance do?

So Wiltshire Air Ambulance, in a nutshell,

saves lives.

It's a helicopter emergency

medical service.

And we provide that service to Wiltshire,

Bath and the surrounding areas.

We'll go wherever we need to

go and we'll help whoever

we need to help.

But yeah, that's our aim,

is to make a difference.

And one of the key things

that I was picking up on

speaking to you earlier is

that they were obviously

just maintaining the aircraft.

Anything that runs needs

maintenance as well.

And that meant that you instantly,

although apparently this happens anyway,

is that there were then in

the cars strategically low rated,

strategically, it's easy for me to say.

Yeah.

strategically located around Bath, Swindon,

whatever,

so that whilst that was being worked on,

no problem, we're still covered,

we've got them there ready

to go instantly.

So it's a much bigger consideration,

isn't it?

It's a huge operation.

So you think we are online 19 hours a day,

365 days of the year.

We have two shifts, if you like,

a day shift and a night shift.

And that's generally made up of a pilot,

two paramedics or a pilot,

a paramedic and a doctor.

And it's about bringing the

emergency room from the

hospital to the side of the road.

You've probably heard of that phrase,

the golden hour.

Yes.

Making sure you get to somebody really,

really quickly.

And so the air ambulance was

born out of getting

somebody and being able to

transfer them really,

really fast to hospital.

And now it's about making sure they're OK,

they're stabilised,

they've had the drugs that they need,

they've been looked after.

OK, now we can think,

where can we take them?

And it gives you that little

bit of extra time to be

able to go to the right hospital.

Yeah, because what they need...

will determine which

hospital they need to go.

Absolutely.

So we see a lot of cardiac arrests,

huge amount of trauma,

road traffic collisions.

Yes, of course.

So you think you've got John

Radcliffe up in Oxfordshire,

Southampton and Southmead in Bristol.

They're your big trauma units.

We can get to anywhere in

Wiltshire within 11 minutes.

We can be... Quicker than you.

Just.

We can be up to John

Radcliffe in 15 minutes.

But when the helicopter is offline,

we do fly low.

We fly over lots of houses, people.

It needs to be safe for everyone involved.

We've got our two critical care cars.

And that just means that we

can dual task as well.

So the helicopter and the

car can go hitting

everything from different angles.

I mean,

one of the big ones that I remember

when we've been talking

about this with you is that

you've, as well as having that service,

the helicopter, the cars, the personnel,

for goodness sake,

these are like top level

medical professionals.

But equally, you needed to have,

I think you touched on it a second ago,

is that

bring the hospital to them

to some extent for that golden hour.

So blood, plasma, drugs.

All of it.

All there, ready to use.

Yeah, sleep well machines and things.

One of my favourite pieces

of kit that I take everywhere with me,

if I can, is the Lucas machine.

So like I touched on,

we see a lot of cardiac arrests.

So you, me, even the fittest person.

She looked at you, not me.

LAUGHTER

But we can only really give

effective CPR for one, one and a half,

two minutes.

After that, we're tired.

We're not pushing deep enough.

So we have this incredible

machine called the Lupus device,

which is an automated CPR device.

In fact, I think you've seen it.

Yeah.

Literally,

it takes over and it does the CPR for you,

which means that it's doing it reliably,

effectively, consistently,

and it means that the crew

then are free to go without singing.

Staying alert.

Staying alert.

Yes.

something like that although

I don't know that's not

fast enough no no is it

right something else it

used to be nelly the

elephant and then yeah that

was right yeah it changes

far too quickly I tell you

what I think that but

they're still happening now

I don't know whether this

will work it probably won't

because it's very bright

out there just you can't

quite see it and rob our

duty pilot has actually

brought back some of the

crew oh really yeah oh yeah

that must mean we're now online

So you can't quite see it, sadly.

I don't think even if I go to me here,

it's just a bit too bright.

But it is just out there.

Incredible service.

They've been busy getting that all sorted.

Really, really impressive.

So sorry, we interrupt.

I interrupt,

allowed ourselves to be

interrupted by the excitement.

Every time that we've heard the noise,

we've still gone to the window,

haven't we?

But it genuinely doesn't get old.

But I was chatting to one of

our paramedics and you still hear me.

No, what?

Yes.

Apologies if we're a little

bit too loud or you can't hear us,

but it is live.

We are really excited.

One of our paramedics,

he calls it a moral

quandary because we look at

it and get really excited.

It's going up in the air.

We see the green and yellow helicopter.

Isn't it amazing?

Children love it.

But actually...

there's a bad story there's

a really poorly person at

the end that really needs

our help so yes see I

always wondered why we have

a box um medical

helicopters everywhere yeah

I know there is air

ambulances 21 air

ambulances across the uk um

so we all sort of look

after each other stealing

when we need to um and I

think that's why we are

actually quite happy

that we're a charity because

we get to make those decisions.

We can push the boundaries

of the clinical resources that we can buy,

fund ourselves.

But what I haven't said

that's really important is

that we couldn't do it

without the white lands of the world,

without the members of the public,

without the businesses that support us.

It's literally their

generosity that saves lives.

We couldn't do it without them.

And that is a key one,

is that it's important to understand,

and I did touch on this already,

no government funding.

No lottery.

No lottery funding.

No,

and this was an interesting line I

hadn't thought of, no NHS funding.

Someone,

I remember we were in a networking thing,

and someone raised the question saying,

well, if you take that person,

so they have no ambulances out to be sent,

and you take them to the hospital,

do you invoice the hospital?

It's like, no, there's nothing there.

It is purely self-funded, you know, self-

funded by the public yeah

exactly which is why you

know you you've got these

charitable things like what

you're doing to try and to

raise the money um you've

got your general sort of

raising money for the

charity the contributions

the monthly contributions

we've got the business club

Next Tuesday.

Yep.

So the Business Club is a

networking group at its heart.

And it was born out of a

desire to give back to the

businesses that look after us.

So, yes, you've got the community groups,

people running the

marathons and the baths

half and things like that.

But the businesses that look after us,

I wanted to give something back.

Yes.

and networking,

building their profile and

really showcasing that

affiliation was what we could give back.

So yeah,

the Business Club on next Tuesday.

And we're a little bit wider than that.

I'm looking at you and I now

because you're playing

football on Swindon Town Football Club.

Play on the pitch.

Play on the pitch.

That's supported by Swindon

Town Football Club,

who also look after us.

And we were gifted a charity match.

So, yeah, we've got a match going on.

2pm kick-off tomorrow afternoon.

And it's all going on.

We've got the mascot.

We've got children coming

out onto the pitch and celebrating.

Food, drinks, the works.

It'll be great.

Go, Mike Lamb.

Go, Mike Lamb.

And I've got my gold

pom-poms back out for you as well.

I have to say, I'm not a football player.

I think the last time I

played football was at school.

We'll be the judge of that tomorrow, mate.

We'll be the judge of that.

I think the whole point of

fundraising is to do what

makes you happy.

It's not a labour of love.

It's what's put in the fun in fundraising.

If my colleagues are watching this,

they're going to literally

just cringe at that.

I can't believe you went there.

You went there.

I did go there.

I'm really sorry.

But it is.

It's about doing something

that you love and weaving

it into your life.

Absolutely.

I mean,

because I think it's got to be

traditionally sort of like...

one direction or the other

either there's we saw the

video there is the

emotional link ie yeah

either victim or someone

you know yeah exactly or

let's have some fun that's

going to give back or you

know fun isn't the only one

you talk about the business

club it's like going yeah

as business owners that

kind of resonates doesn't

it and it's like well if

we're doing it why can't we

do it where the money that

we're paying to go and do

it is going to a really good cause

And we also hire out our training rooms.

We do accredited first aid courses.

So it's all those boxes on

your strategic business

plan that you could tick

and support the charity at the same time.

And any philanthropists watching,

watch it this time of day

I'm not sure they're

normally busy yeah yeah

true and you can watch this

on capture by the way um

but I mean you've even got

a team that work with

philanthropists that kind

of go we want to know where

to do and and that sort of

you relationship manage

that as well to make sure they understand

Yeah,

we're just developing a major donors

scheme as well.

So the people that give a lot of money,

shall we say,

how to better look after them.

It's all about building and

growing into our potential

and looking after the

supporters and making it a family.

Again, please,

if you've got any comments or questions,

chip in, type them in the comments.

We'll be able to put them up on the screen,

like I did with this one

when I posted this comment to you all,

is that I can have that

with your profile name and photo,

et cetera.

So any questions or comments, please,

please do it.

And I'll ask a difficult

question now that you may

not even have the answer.

Why isn't it government funded?

Oh, no.

Yeah, that's what I wanted to know.

Sorry, I went there, didn't I?

If you're going to throw the fun bomb in,

I'm going to throw that one in.

Absolutely.

I think the question should

be is why we aren't government funded.

You think about the police helicopters.

When they were nationalised,

those helicopters were

pretty much halved.

So imagine if we were to be nationalised,

be part of the NHS.

There's so many things going

on in the NHS at the moment.

Money's really, really tight.

Do you focus on cancer patients?

Do you focus on taking the

emergency room to the side of the road?

Do you focus on looking at new drugs?

What is your focus?

You can't look at all of it.

That is turning on its head, isn't it?

It says, actually,

it's better that it's not

in the queue for the rest of that.

I mean,

because you could argue that a

helicopter is an expense

over and above what an

ambulance could do.

Yeah.

But just think, as you said earlier,

that 11 minutes,

that 11 minute window from

getting them from where

they are to somewhere in

Wiltshire to be looked after.

Well, and even the getting there,

isn't there?

I mean,

you were saying is that

they'll get the call.

They're scrambled in two minutes.

Pilots instantly out there,

got everything fired up.

The rest of the team are

getting the location, the notes.

That's all they need.

Out they go.

In, by that point,

the helicopter's up to speed.

Off it goes.

It's there.

There's no traffic to sit in.

There's no traffic lights.

No Sunday afternoon drivers.

No, exactly.

And, you know,

the ambulances have a

terrible time in the fact

that even those that are considerate,

it scares the bejesus out of you.

And you kind of go, oh, where do I go?

And if you've suddenly

delayed that ambulance

enough that you never know

what it is to get in there.

But I'd never really thought

of it that way around.

That's like going, actually,

why would we want it funded?

Yeah.

Would they be the first

people that are cut funding?

Certainly would be less.

I mean, your police one,

that's such a valid point.

And I only learned that, you know,

a few months ago because I

asked the same questions.

And I also asked questions like,

we don't always save lives.

So why do people still look after us?

You know, have we failed people?

If, you know, you can't, we're not God.

We're not going to make sure

that everybody, we do our best,

but not everybody survives.

And so I asked that question,

a really hard question going, well,

then we failed people.

And then I turned that on

its head and thought, actually,

it's about making a

difference in the community.

Yeah.

Every time we go out,

which is on average about

three times a day,

we always make a difference

to either the patient, their family,

their friends, the community.

And it is being part of

something greater than just you.

Because it isn't always about going,

treating the ambulance,

putting the patient in the

air ambulance and then

taking them to hospital.

Obviously, again, with motor racing,

where sadly we have times

where we have to call on air ambulance.

And I know I was at Castle Combe circuit,

I can't remember,

it was either a year or two ago,

and we had two air ambulances turn up.

Yep.

So I don't know where the

other one would have been from,

to be honest.

You've got five in the southwest.

Okay.

But they were different times.

Yeah.

And the reason being is that

that was the air ambulance that we know,

but the incident was

serious enough that we

needed a particular doctor type,

and it actually brought the doctor to us.

Absolutely.

So you see it a lot.

There was a horrendous crash

on the A361 going out of Froome.

really nasty.

And I think there were two air ambulances.

You always have the land

ambulance as well.

If it's a road traffic collision,

you've got fire brigade and

police as well.

So everybody's on scene sometimes.

So the story you heard from Stuart,

it was actually the land

ambulance that went to him first.

They took one look at him

because the call came into 999.

They went, okay, you know, he's collapsed.

Let's send the ambulance.

They took one look at him and went,

he looks like he's having a stroke.

we need those extra level of expertise,

those extra drugs,

which then brings in our

enhanced and specialist paramedics.

They bring that next level of care.

I was going to say that

brings up another question then.

When does the level jump in?

So obviously the NHS, you phone 909,

I need an ambulance.

Yep.

When does the ambulance or

the dispatch crew go,

we needed a helicopter instead of a... Oh,

I can answer that one.

That's far easier than your question,

Chris.

Yeah.

I failed again, hadn't I?

So imagine when your 999 call comes in,

it's being looked after,

listened to by a team down in Exeter.

So I said we were a

helicopter emergency medical service,

HEMS for short.

We've got our HEMS desk down in Exeter.

they listen out to all the

999 calls and they look for

sort of tag words, the cardiac arrest,

trauma, fall from height.

And then they'll go, oh,

that looks like something

the air ambulance needs to go to.

So then they look at the map and say, okay,

which is the closest asset?

So if we're already at a job

up in Swindon and there's

another incident down in Salisbury,

we might not necessarily be the closest.

So you might find one of the

other air ambulances is.

So they'll get called in,

we'll get called in.

And that's how we're tasked.

And I guess, like you say,

is that sometimes if it's a

particular medical requirement,

the team there can call it.

They're probably not going

to know that on a 999 call,

I wouldn't have thought, are they?

You panic as well, though,

when you're making a 999 call.

100%, yeah.

You're not a medical person.

You have no idea what's happening.

No.

I can't imagine anything worse.

So to be able to have that

conversation with the 999

crew and the HEMS desk,

I think it's really important.

Sometimes our guys are

called just to have a

conversation about an incident.

So they'll be called up and going, right,

I've got somebody here.

They're looking like this.

They're presenting these symptoms.

You know, what should we, could we do?

and our guys might just help

or they might go do you

know what we're close let's

come on down yes but let's

not forget that each

mission um I said about

three a day it's about four

and a half grand per

mission 12 grand a day

which is what mike is

aiming for for his van pull

um which equates to four

and a half million a year

that's just the operational

cost I was about to say a

minute ago that doesn't

include the helicopter does it

So running costs the helicopter,

but when our Bell 429

eventually gets so old that

we need to replace her,

we're looking at another 7, 8,

9 mil on top of our running.

And it's vital to all of us.

And I guess it's like that

insurance policy,

because I sit here emotionally going, oh,

I really pray I never die.

need it for me or for

someone close to me or I

think you even touched on

it to witness something

that requires it you know

it might not even be

personally connected but to

witness something that

needs it however to know

that it's there oh

Yeah, well, I was going to say,

we see the air ambulance

land in a grass area near our house.

And the amount of people

that are rushed down to take photos,

because again,

they get excited because

it's an air ambulance.

They forget, instantly forget.

It gets posted on social media.

We often joke that's what

our pilots are for.

Not only do they pilot the helicopter,

they're also bodyguards.

back off or if they land um

like uh school playgrounds

feel they're great in the

weekday to land in so we

need something that's about

the size of two tennis

courts at night even larger

um so if we land in a

school you've all the

school children and their

teachers that come out so

the pilots are there doing

that pr bit you know

they're chatting talking

about what so you have to

but you even though it

would be ideal just keep

them fully away but you

still have to do the

pr but yeah I mean I presume

that all the hospitals have

got helicopter landing pads

either outside or inside no

not all um no on the top so

you may have seen on the

news salisbury's just got a

brand new helipad we went

and launched it with them

um if we airlift a bath we

land in the cricket pitch next door

oh wow we've got an

agreement they don't have a

helipad sometimes you land

so far away that actually

the ambulance needs to come

and pick the crew up but

it's really worth noting

that we don't always

transfer in the helicopter

sometimes we've stabilized

them to a point where they

can go in the back of the

land ambulance and one of

our crew will go with them

and that then means we

either come back to base to

refuel or we can go

straight to another incident

more benefits from being

transported by helicopter over ambulance?

I mean,

is it... There's got to be the

speed thing while you would go,

but surely... But, yeah, is it smoother?

Not everyone's going to be

comfortable in an air ambulance,

are they?

I don't think they're going to.

No, let's be honest.

I would be insistent on it.

Because they're not, like,

sat in the window, are they,

looking out and going, oh, look,

you can see my house.

They're not doing any of that.

They're at the back.

And I would just hate that whole idea,

the claustrophobia as well

as the being on it.

But I'll be honest.

Go on.

I'm going to say, honestly,

the instance that we go to,

if it came back to you,

you would not know where you were,

who you were.

But I guess my... Because I

always thought that that would be worse,

but I...

I had a heart scare last year.

And I say heart scare

because it turns out it

wasn't a heart attack, thank goodness.

But it was certainly,

didn't know that at the time.

But it, I got, sorry,

I was just making sure that

something was on then.

They took me to hospital

because they weren't sure,

they weren't comfortable.

They got me stabilised and

took me off by road ambulance.

Lights and sirens the lot

from Castle Combe Circuit.

It was such a great place

for me to have this scare because,

of course,

they got the full medical centre there.

And off I went.

through all the lights and

everything it was blooming

terrifying being in the

ambulance on that you're

just there with what is

quite a big space around

you going oh my god and I

realized yes I did know

everything that was going

on but that's because

largely I'd kind of

predominantly settled down

but they were worried that

I could go again

during that journey to get

me there so uh there is no

lesser greater I don't

think is there no I think

it's speed it it's whatever

the incident calls for and

that's why it's such a complex

thing because you never know

what's going to happen.

The crew come in in the morning,

they brief in the morning

about the weather,

about anything that's going

on in the skies.

Obviously,

we're very close to Salisbury Plains,

so it's military as well.

We've been communicating

with all these different

groups of people to make

sure that we're flying safely,

that they're behaving safely.

and you just don't know

what's going to happen.

Don't do.

We didn't know.

My stuff behind that

staggered three a day.

On average,

there have been days where

we've gone out 10, 14 times.

That's just incredible, isn't it?

And it's no wonder, therefore,

why the support.

Are the pilots medically trained as well?

No, they're not medically trained.

They're focusing on the pilot.

Yep, but they can,

so you talked about blood and plasma.

So we started carrying blood

products in 2015.

So we can do full blood

transactions at the side of the road.

And we have a Lyoplav,

which is a freeze-dried plasma.

Oh, wow.

So all you do is you add

water and then you pump it

through a blood warmer into

the patient's body.

But you have to swill this

lyoplasm really gently,

like you're doing a gin and tonic.

Nothing gentle about my gin and tonic.

The pilots are well trained

in swilling lyoplasm.

But the opposite way,

the paramedics are trained

as a technical crew member.

So they can land the helicopter.

They can read all the dials.

Oh, my God.

I didn't know that.

So the med team can go the other way.

Yeah, so you see a lot of helicopters.

They're dual pilots.

You have your two pilots.

But we've got a smaller aircraft.

It's nippier.

It's faster, lighter,

which means that's why we

can get places a little bit

quicker than others.

We can lift faster.

But it means that we've only

got the one pilot.

So the paramedics are

trained to just read the dials,

to navigate.

And if

Worst case scenario, absolutely.

They could take over the controls.

Yeah, and land.

That's just incredible, isn't it?

That really is.

Where do you get your pilots from?

all but one are ex-military.

Yeah, which is why we can fly at night.

Volunteers or?

No, they're paid.

All paid for by the charity.

Yeah.

They don't do sort of like,

what do they call it?

Not abscond.

That's when you escape from the prison.

Not abscond.

What's the one where you let

them out for a year?

That's the word.

Abscond, succumb.

They're not secondments from something.

No,

so the pilots are fully paid by the

charity.

The paramedics,

we do get a little bit of...

of their wage from the NHS.

And the doctors are fully

funded by the charity as well.

None of them come cheaply either.

Oh, no, no, no.

Well, I mean,

you think that they are the

top level qualified,

the years and everything else.

That makes complete sense.

I mean, it's just incredible, isn't it?

And I mean,

that's why it's like we need to

sort of keep this thing

flying in the air.

It's absolutely vital.

I hope that none of us need it,

but it's there if we do.

And we've heard that, sadly,

an awful lot of people do regularly,

daily, multiple times.

Last year, 1,167 missions.

That's what we were called to.

You can't even compute that.

646 in the helicopter, 521 in the cars.

A lot of poorly people.

And I think there's a key one is to,

although obviously

wheelchair air ambulance is

that it's all about the helicopter,

but it's not,

I know you did say it already,

but it is important to

remember the whole service

is the cars as well.

Yep.

And the people and the kit that we have.

Yeah.

And you've presumably got the,

for want of a better phrase,

the call centre here as well.

No, so no call centre here.

So it all happens down at

the HEMS desk in Exeter and

then the calls come through

to us and the paramedics,

pilots can pick it up and

then go from there.

So that's all down in our

operational bit downstairs

where it's nice and cool.

Yes, right.

It is now in here.

It wasn't earlier, was it?

But it is now.

I'm just running away.

Any other questions that you can think of?

No,

I was just going to say about donations.

Obviously,

trying to get donations and

people can donate online.

They can come and do

fundraising opportunities.

Yep.

So we put on lots of

challenge events throughout the year.

So play on the pitch is our next one.

We've got Snowden Sunrise.

If you're a bit of a thrill

seeker and you'd like to

jump out of a plane,

you can do a skydive with us.

There you go.

That's next on your bucket list.

Any family or friends

watching will be laughing

at the idea of getting me to do that.

I think September, isn't it?

It is.

I'm not tandeming with you, mate.

No, you're a professional.

You're all right.

Don't worry.

But I think Mike's also doing it.

That doesn't surprise me.

He said he'd get to a

certain amount that he

would then jump out of the party.

Yeah,

I think we went past that amount as well.

So last year, I...

When I first met Naomi,

I said I would pledge to

raise one and a half thousand.

And we went past the one and

a half thousand threshold.

I think I might have laughed

when he said that.

And I said, when we get to two and a half,

I'll jump out of the plane.

And we got to five quite quickly.

So, yeah.

And we're now around about halfway.

So we're just at the £6,000 mark.

Keep it going.

Yeah,

what's difficult for me is it's been days,

months, weeks,

trying to raise enough

money for one day for them.

So there needs to be... But even £100.

So not everybody can raise £12,000.

Not everybody can pull a van.

Not everybody can put as

much time and effort as you have.

We're very, very lucky.

Other people might put on a bake sale,

and that's no less important.

Yeah, see, eating cake, easy.

We've got a lovely coffee

morning just around the corner from me.

And they get together once a month.

Ridge Coffee Club.

Yeah, the Ridge Coffee Club.

And they get together,

even donated one of their

quiz nights to the band pool.

Yeah.

But they've raised quite a few thousand.

Yes.

So they raise a couple of

hundred each time they put

on a coffee morning.

And over the years, I mean,

they've been with us since, you know,

2010, 13, something like that.

They've raised well over a day's worth.

But even if it's £100,

that will still fund a blood warmer.

That still helps give a blood transfusion.

No amount is too small.

I think that's always an

important thing is that

because I used to

occasionally fall into the

trap is you kind of go, you know,

I can't really give any

more than the 10 or 50.

And we're being told now not

to with everything that's

going on in the world with

the cost of living.

What's the first thing to go?

It has to be all your charity,

direct debit and anything you don't need.

And let's face it,

if you're going to choose

to feed your family or donate to charity,

you're going to feed your family.

So,

am I allowed to say that Tesco coined

the phrase beautifully,

every penny helps?

It does, it really does.

No, and I think, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

absolutely.

Seamlessly back again.

I don't know Aldi,

but I definitely know Aldi.

seamlessly back to brandon

no I mean and I put up the

thing

wheelchairairambulance.co.uk jump on

have a look all of the

information's there it

emotionally it's a

no-brainer isn't it and it

is as they say is don't

underestimate how important

just that little bit uh

that we that can be given

And don't just think about

it as giving some money

right there itself.

It's like these examples

where you or your

organisation about doing

activities that is raising

money from other people,

that suddenly that

organisation getting

multiple people able to

help in those little bits,

suddenly it's a bigger lump

that goes through.

And I'll probably get a

little bit blubby now,

but it's about making

friendships and lasting relationships.

And I think I can consider

Mike a friend now, you know.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

It's building those relationships.

It might not necessarily be

a one-off donation.

It might be little and often.

It might just be spreading awareness.

But, you know, come get to know us.

Which is what's a big thing

that your stuff's been doing, isn't it?

It's definitely spreading a

whole lot of awareness.

It's like your branding now.

It's the Vanpool guy.

Yeah, well.

It comes up in every meeting,

and you don't even need to

bring it up anymore,

and it will come up for someone.

I mean, if it's still creating awareness.

It's just brilliant.

No, not at all.

Incidentally,

and also on another personal one,

we've got to say a massive

congratulations.

Naomi is engaged to be wed.

Not to Mike.

Who is it?

To my other half, Rick.

Rick, congratulations to you as well,

mate.

Congratulations to you.

Your finance is over there.

autocorrect but

congratulations on that as

well thank you very much

lovely to see with all the

hard work that you do is

that there's still all that

personal touch out there as

well and we love that we're

very lucky we get to spend

the time with the real

person as well as

everything that you'll do

and and that's what this is

about isn't it making sure

that people get to know the

people as well

And like you say, people buy from people.

People support something

that is close to their hearts.

And when you get to know

someone and know their story,

I've met Stuart,

whose story you heard earlier.

Oh, really?

I still cry every time he talks about it.

I know, you stitched us right up.

I do have the other video,

but I'm not playing it

because I was there trying

to be manly and not cry in

a networking breakfast

meeting because you played

that three minutes one.

Yeah.

it's just incredible but

he's playing football

tomorrow and he is playing

football tomorrow oh wow

which I've met before as

well that is incredible um

actually do you know what I

am going to play it as the

close out but I'm going to

finish with us on camera at

this point uh and I mean I

am going to play out the uh

wheelchair ambulance videos

from their youtube channel

so look you can see all of

this stuff on the

wheelchair ambulance

youtube channel on the website

Naomi,

it's been an absolute pleasure to

have you on.

I suppose it's been a

pleasure to have you on as well, Mike.

No, it has.

It's been brilliant.

Thank you so much for watching.

Appreciate it.

Keep your eyes peeled

because this will then pop

up in the clips and

everything for everybody to look.

Any questions about the van pool?

Get in touch.

Anything about how you can support?

Obviously,

I've got the wheelchair air ambulance.

I'll be fair because it's a while ago.

I put this up as you've got

nickeldesign.co.uk.

And of course,

you've already got up in the

top left hand corner my

website to discuss.

what we can do in terms of

bringing you and your

stories to life with visual

pr but I'm going to play us

out with the wheelchair

ambulance video from us

here live at semington

thank you for your company

and I'll see you next month

for episode five we are

there with really poorly

people who are at their

worst moment in their lives potentially

For that moment, they're my family,

so that patient is my world.

There's a real emotional

investment as well as a clinical one.

That person's probably going

to remember that day

forever and although we see

these patients far too

frequently unfortunately,

for them that's the one

moment that they've got of

Wiltshire Ambience.

It's a powerful, fast aircraft.

We can go up to 155 knots with that.

So that's about 170, 180 miles an hour.

And obviously if you can get

a 30 mile an hour wind behind you,

which is quite possible,

we can be up to three miles

a minute across the ground.

No two days are the same.

We might come in and see

traumatic patients or cardiac patients.

They're all very different.

And we can only do this

because of the generosity

of the businesses and the

members of the public who

put on fundraising events

and provide us with that funding.

Everybody gets it.

They all get that the Air

Ambulance is something that

they might need,

their son or daughter might need,

their mother or father might need.

And it doesn't matter who you are,

what you look like, what you believe in,

the Air Ambulance is a

vital service for everybody

and everybody completely

understands that.

It's very much

part of civil society here in Wiltshire.

Once the task comes in,

what will happen is the

pilot will then go out to the aircraft,

start it up while the

clinicians are plotting

where the incident is and

then we will make our way

towards the aircraft and

off we go to that incident.

So we can be in the air from

the moment that call comes

in to us within about two minutes,

less than two minutes.

And then we can be on the

side of the road within

Wiltshire in about 11

minutes offering the

critical care service that we offer.

It is not funded by the government.

It wasn't set up by the

government in the first place.

It's kind of like the RNLI of the air.

And we rely entirely on

people of Wiltshire to fund this service.

As it says on the sideline machine,

it's funded by you flying for you.

And it really is that every

penny that's donated is a

penny used towards treating that patient.

Bye.