04/02/2013 Inside Out West

Hello from Henstridge Airfield, home of the Dorset and Somerset Air

Ambulance. Tonight: Local air ambulance

services like this could be under threat from a new national

children's air ambulance service. If funds drop for local air

ambulances, it could curtail their flying. People could die if the air

ambulance isn't flying. Also tonight: We meet a woman

trying to get disaffected youngsters in South Bristol back on

track. I truly believe that God loves every single individual on

this estate and it is my job to show them that they are loved.

And we tell the remarkable story of the last plane built at Filton.

is trying, isn't it? It has never run before. It is remain male!

I'm Alastair McKee and this is In our first film tonight, we're

looking into a charity promising to save lives. The Children's Air

Ambulance was set up six years ago, but as yet hasn't managed to fly a

single child anywhere. And, as Matthew Hill has been finding out,

the charity has sparked an almighty row among existing air ambulance

They're called the Angels of the sky. And it's not hard to see why.

Air ambulances like this one are run by charities. And, as charities,

they depend entirely on donations to save lives.

Each region has its own air ambulance service. They're distinct

and separate from each other. There are 16 different services covering

their own distinct parts of the country. Each of these services

raise money in their own patch. But now there's a charity that says

it wants to start a new service - a national helicopter dedicated to

transporting sick children between hospitals.

It's not playing by the same unwritten fundraising rules

everyone else. And there are fears this could impact on existing air

ambulance services. If funds curtail their flying,

people could die. This new children's service has

cost nearly �2m but so far not a single child has been transported.

There are questions over its motives and how it's spending

donations. But its backers believe in its future.

If the public get behind this then it's worth every penny.

But how realistic is their vision to create a national children's

helicopter service? And what cost will it have on other air

It's a Sunday afternoon in January and the crew of the Dorset and

Somerset Air Ambulance are on their way to an accident. It's a

suspected head injury. This is to protect your neck in case you have

done any damage we can't see. Are you comfy?

The Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance flies 700 missions a year.

It wouldn't be possible without money collected in places like this

garage in Wellington in Somerset. Bill Siveright is the charity's

Chief Executive. Hollow, I have come to change your box. Here is

the new one. But lately there's been a new collection box here and

it's causing confusion. My concern is the people who hold

the boxes don't really understand. You don't know about this one. This

one is based in Coventry. The owner of this box operates two

emergency helicopter services for people living in the Midlands, but

wants to start a new national service dedicated to transferring

children between hospitals.They plan to offer this retrieval

service by using one helicopter to cover the entire country.

But what's not clear is that some of the money raised in pots like

these actually goes on running their other services as well. It is

not yet saving lives nationwide. And that's causing concern locally.

It's presenting itself as a nationwide service now when, in

fact, only the Children's Air Ambulance part of that organisation

actually has a nationwide role. The other two are still regional air

ambulances just like ours. I would argue that it is impractical to

expect one aircraft to work nationwide. The will is not the

only person to have concerns. We spoke to several former volunteers

and employees of the company. Opera parish is one of them.

Why did you leave? Because I was really very, very

unhappy with the way in which the charity was moving. It was no

longer a charity. It had become a hard-nosed business. You saw the

development of officers, the recruitment of more and more senior

people. What do you mean?

The balance was swaying tremendously in favour of the

upkeep of the charity: salaries, cars, the recruitment of more and

more senior personnel. One of those senior personnel was

the head of PR and was paid through a public relations company called

Loquendi. Did you know about Loquendi?

Yes I'd heard of Loquendi because Andy, the CEO of the Air Ambulance

was married to the director of Loquendi. And Loquendi, I know,

organised events that benefitted the air ambulance.

Barbara also says Loquendi helped book celebrities for charity events

and that they were paid for their appearances.

What's wrong with celebrity endorsement if it brings in money?

It depends on how it's promoted, whether it's perceived that

somebody's appearing free of charge. What element is charged, what

profit is made from the event. The charity's spending on

celebrities, it seems, was not only confined to fundraising events.

Barbara also told me she remembers a staff get-together.

It was in this Village Hall in Dunchurch, in Rugby. Anton Du Beke

and Erin Boag from BBC's Strictly Come Dancing were invited to give

dancing lessons to the staff. It was organised by the chief

executive Andy Williamson.She claims it cost the charity several

thousand pounds. Barbara also says some staff were paid performance-

related bonuses. She herself received �3,500 - something she now

regrets. According to their latest accounts, Andy Williamson, the Air

Ambulance's chief executive, is paid between �110 and �119,000. I

think it's time to meet the man. I've come to Coventry Airport. It's

home of The Air Ambulance Service and where he's based. Why did you

choose the name 'The Air Ambulance Service'?

Well, the Air Ambulance Service is a good reflection of what we are

actually doing. But on your collection boxes it's

"The Air Ambulance" - people think of that as being a national charity

when it's not really. No I don't think they do. I think

there is no confusion what so ever between different charities. All

the information is freely available. Is it appropriate for your charity

to have paid Loquendi for services when it's director is your wife?

It's not any kind of conflict. We are looking at whatever services

that we need to provide for our staff, for our organisation because

in the end we have to deliver very substantial sums to deliver patient

care. Did you have any hand in her

appointment? Who did it then?

We have a board of trustees that ensure that all our processes and

all our governance is absolutely correct

So you think your wife is the best person for that job?

Well, absolutely. You paid Strictly Come Dancing

Everything is about the patients. However many staff we have, we need

to keep them motivated, we need to keep them focused on delivering

their role that ensures that we deliver that patient care. This

helicopter will cost �2 million a year to operate. In the last month,

it has transported four Medical teams. So far, it hasn't

transferred a single child. Mr Williamson's charity isn't the only

one looking at the air transfer service for Sick children. The NHS

has commissioned a report on how it can be achieved. We have obtained a

leaked copy. This draft report recommends a network of different

providers, including regional air ambulance. Looking at the report,

it is apparent a single helicopter ambulance based in Coventry may not

be able to meet the emergency response times for all parts of the

country. Even if it could, less than a quarter of our hospitals

have a helipad for it to land on. The arguments continue about the

way it is using its helicopter to raise money and how that is

impacting on local services. Isn't this just that you are feeling

threatened by another charity that could be a competitor? In Dorset

and Somerset, there are lots of big charities. I don't feel threatened

by any of them. The donors know what they are giving to. They are

giving to the air ambulance service and we are Dorset and Somerset air

ambulance. You can understand the confusion. If the opportunity to

raise funds for the local Air Ambulance ADI midgets -- are

diminished through lack of funds, there is a way that you could

jeopardise people's lives. Later in the programme, One man's dream to

build his own Spitfire. The pot is bare. Everything I own it was in

that spit fire. -- Spitfire. They are more than a million people in

England who aren't in education, employment or training. Figures

show one in 516-24-year-olds did have a college place for a job. We

have been too hot cliff, one of the city's poorest areas of Bristol,

meeting a woman who is helping getting disaffected youngsters back

on track. This is Terry Williams and this is

the football team she runs as part of her charity. The Hartcliffe

Saints is our football team. We train the once a Wycombe we are in

the Bristol Churches League. The boy's arm -- the boys I work with

orange -- the boys that I work with the haven't worked. Dan Williams is

the team captain. He is 20 now and has never had a proper job. Zoe is

no football fan but wants to teach them about commitment. Training

We come out on a night like this because it gives them something to

do and it is a really good activity that they love. They -- their love

for it excels my heat for it. is giving up more of her spare time

to give these guys a chance. With the help of her housemates and

fellow volunteers, so Wii has turned her home in heart cliff into

a part-time youth club for Dan and seemed to dislike him.

For the older boys, we have an open-door policy. If the back door

is unlocked, they are allowed in. If it is locked, they tend to only

knock on the front door or the front window. If it is an emergency,

the main factor for us in the house is that we are motivated by our

faith. I truly believe that God loves every single person and

individual on this estate. It is my job to show them that they are

loved. I grew up in Hartcliffe and I guess, for me, it is home. That

is part of my medication -- motivation. My mum was a drug

addict when she was a teenager and then got pregnant with me. When I

was a baby, she became a Christian. For her, she went on to be a mature

student and got a degree in economics and computers. It brought

me up with different expectations. Expectations that Zoe is trying to

pass on to dam and his friend, Chris. The boys are signing on at

the moment and we are trying to get them some apprenticeship forms to

complete so they can apply for some staff. Dan lives with his mum and

gets �50 a week in benefits. He needs to list the few

qualifications he has on the form. It is about hanging around with my

mates but the downside is not having a job. He started to come

here three years ago. From the outside it looks like progress has

been slow. At the time he was in trouble with the police. It was

pretty crazy. In the last six months to a year, we have started

applying for jobs and support him on that level. Two years ago, that

wouldn't have been a possibility because there was no point in doing

that. He wouldn't have been able to hold down a job. Zoe has been

trying to arrange work-experience for him at a local after-school

club for the last five years -- Zoe meets with the boys to go for a

run. It is part of a routine to keep them out of trouble. While

they jog, she makes a meal for everyone. Anywhere between five and

15 boys might show up to eat. They Nice jacket, mate. Boys, come on.

Food is really important. It is sociable. Lots of them wouldn't

have eaten with their families most of the week. It is just an idea of

being sociable and doing her family things together.

The more you mess around, the more you eat into your time.

Thursday night training is a key part of Zoe's tried to teach boys

about discipline. For oddball is not a right, it is a

reward. The boys have to learn that reward. I am pretty strict. For

every swear word that they say in my presence, or if they called

Gerda -- if they call girls words, they have to do press-ups. If they

are in trouble with police they get banned from matches.

On Sundays, it so we are Thames's This big popular church on the

other side of Bristol. Sometimes a few of the football team come as

well. This evening, they are helping it

was so weak serve refreshments between services. Most of the

funding for so we's charity comes from church donations. So, what is

more important to have? Getting Dan -- getting that into work or

church? If they want to come to church, that is up to them. Some do

and some don't. I will still write 1000 applications with them, no

question. Pam has decided to join the church and he has been baptised.

In it was my own decision what I did. All of my mates might make

silly little jokes. Before I got baptised I would get drunk all the

time, but I don't do that anymore. Becoming a Christian may have

improved Dan's behaviour, but his time management still needs work.

Than it was supposed to meet me here this afternoon to go and do

some work experience, but as life is chaotic for lots of the boys, he

forgot and bought a football ticket to see Bristol City. It is a missed

opportunity for him to beast his confidence and build self-esteem.

That is where my frustration is. Despite the setback, so we is not

about to give up. Saturday I thought we have not had a team

photo this season. Most of them would say I am more

harsh than their parents, but I think that is what family is. Being

there through the thick and thin and the rubbish and when they are

naughty and when they are great. The team is, Jack, Johnny, will.

On 21st December last year, up Bristol's Filton airport closed its

runway after 100 years in business. Racing to beat that deadline, one

man was putting finishing touches to a refurbishment that had taken

13 years. In our final film, David Stafford tells the remarkable story

of the last plane built at Feltham. This is how it all began, for his

40th birthday, Martin Phillips was given a rivet just like one of

these. I was presented with a large carton

and it was filled with polystyrene and in the middle of it was a

solitary refer it. I thought they were laughing at me so I thought I

would have the ultimate lath and present them with a Spitfire. Over

the next 30 years, he arranged bits around the rivet to make a Spitfire.

Not bad for a man who normally makes plastic aeroplanes.

He painted over it, but I know where it is. It is that big Rivett.

That started it all. If it is a foggy November afternoon in Bristol,

a big day for John Hart, who has overseen the assembly of the spit

fire. Today is the day we bring it outside and hopefully it will run.

There are a million things that could go wrong, but I'm sure it

will be fine. There are hundreds of joints and although we have

pressure tested them, the engine will do the ultimate test.

The mighty Merlin engine has been silent for more than half-a-century.

I am feeling a bit funny at the moment. Nothing can go wrong. The

first flight is just weeks away, at the day the airport shuts up shop.

Fingers crossed this is it. Probably �800,000 worth. A lot of

meat fuel will be running around. We don't know what will happen. It

is quite exciting. Unlike thousands of other Spitfires, this one never

flew over wartime Europe. Instead, it saw service in South Africa.

is trying it, isn't it. It is running now! Keep it going!

spark that lit Martin's passion was a love of and pride in British

engineering, but back when this all started, he had one big question on

his mind. I thought, well, I will just go and buy a spit fire. I

wondered then, how the hell do you buy a spit fire? He tried the

internet, no luck, Yellow Pages, drew a blank. He began to think his

search was entirely futile, but then in Worthing he found a man who

had a lot of equipment in his back garden. Negotiations ensued, a sum

of �70,000 changed hands, Martin It gives me a lot of the original

parts and doughty facts. I am intending to find as many original

parts as I can. This is what makes a Spitfire Singh. This is the

actual engine that came with the project. This is the information.

One of this bit Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service's wings was

found in a hedgerow where it had crashed during the war. -- first

spit Nottinghamshire Fire and Nobody talks about the end cost. We

dream of �550,000. Luckily, Martin owns a plant hire business and

today he is shifting one wing into And so began the more than a decade

of stripping, building and testing. Some components had to be specially

made about 70% are original parts. Here we have the real pit. Four of

sheep's wool, horse hair in the back. Can't believe that somebody

canopy ready to go. Martin has to satisfy the Civil Aviation

Authority, that every part is correct and documented, especially

those rivets. That rivet there, 30 today amateur. -- total diameter.

18th December last year. The world's largest passenger plane is

making his last flight out. In two days' time, the airport will shut

for good. Martin's little sweetheart has a curious twist of

history and will be the last plane to be built here. Will this one fly

today? It is a silly question but what is the emotion like? I am

running on adrenalin now. I might have a tear or two. How much is it

costing? The pot is bare. Everything I own is in it. Now that

lucky man has to fly the thing. For the first time in decades, it will

be airborne. It is in safe hands. have flown several in the past few

years. This is the most iconic and perfect spit fire. It looks right

and has a good history behind it. This is it. The moment Martin has

dreamed of for 13 years. To everyone offer a certain age and

younger, it is lump in her throat What was the best bit? Bill saying,

"Martin, what a fantastic Air aeroplane." what a milestone.

iconic bit of British history. it, do it. Keep our British

heritage alive. That is about it for this week. You can always keep

in touch with what we are up to on Next week, why did it take more

than seven years for this man's child abuse crimes to come to