THE community of Halwill will be helping to save more lives as a night time air ambulance landing site has been installed — thought to be the first in Devon.

Following an appeal from Devon Air Ambulance Trust for parish and town councils across the county to consider developing floodlit community landing sites, Halwill Parish Council took the initiative on board and on Saturday unveiled the new floodlighting column on the football field to enable the charity to land a helicopter in the dark.

The trust has been working with communities to develop a network of floodlit landing sites which will enable it to bring a lifesaving service to the heart of communities in the dark when it starts night flying in October.

A spokesperson for Halwill Parish Council said: ‘The community lighting column is understood to be the first in Devon to be erected for use by Devon Air Ambulance Trust when they start their night flying. It floodlights the centre of the football pitch and can be operated remotely using SMS (text) messages.’

‘The column and associated ground works have been installed in record time as a result of community effort and fundraising that involved clubs, societies and many individuals. Most notable was the effort of Mrs Jane Spencer, who alone raised £1,220 by successfully walking the Ruby Run in June. Barry Parsons also generously donated £500 in his capacity as Devon councillor. Several anonymous donations were also gratefully received.’

Floodlighting is an essential component of a community helipad for both safety and practical reasons — it will help illuminate the site during landing and take-off and will help paramedics when loading a patient into the aircraft and during transfer between a land and air ambulance. The trust said reviews of its summertime extended operational hours, until 9pm, consistently showed that its ambulances reach over 50 patients who, if their accidents or illness had happened during the winter, they would not have been able to get to them. DAAT’s move to extend its hours of operation until midnight everyday will therefore make a considerable difference to communities across Devon.

On Saturday, Halwill Parish Council also unveiled a temporary sports changing facility for users of the field.

Replacing an old and dilapidated wooden hut, the bespoke temporary sports changing facility was craned into place off the back of a lorry and contains two changing rooms with shower rooms and toilets for sports teams, together with separate changing facilities for match officials. Its regular use will be by Halwill Football Club, but it will also be used for other sporting activities.

Mike Duda, chair of Halwill Parish Council, said: ‘Inauguration of the temporary changing facility marks the start of an exciting series of developments towards Halwill Junction’s aim to become a sports hub for local communities. Our next step is development of a multi-use games area and, in the longer term, an extension to the village hall which will incorporate a permanent sports changing facility.’

Ribbons unveiling both the changing facility and the DAAT floodlight were cut by Devon County Councillor Barry Parsons and Torridge ward councillor Zyg Gregorek.

Visit the website www.halwill.org.uk for more information.

Pictures by Paul Hamlyn