Wheelchair tennis star gives Wiltshire Air Ambulance her backing

Louise Hunt has been named as an ambassador for the charity

Author: Faye TryhornPublished 6th May 2022

A British wheelchair tennis champion has been named as the latest charity ambassador for Wiltshire Air Ambulance.

Louise Hunt, who's from near Swindon and competed for ParalympicsGB at the games in London and Rio, is pledging her support.

The 30 year old has visited the crew of the life-saving helicopter at their base in Semington.

Louise said:

“I am honoured and proud to be an ambassador for Wiltshire Air Ambulance. The work in which everyone undertakes at the charity is astounding and makes such an important difference to the local community. When I learnt more about the real-life stories and how many lives the crews have saved it made me feel passionate about supporting the charity in any way I can.

“I’m excited about what’s ahead and encourage people to donate and support to such an incredible organisation which one day could save their own or a loved one’s life.”

Louise with some of the WAA crew

Louise has Spina Bifida and has used a wheelchair her whole life.

She's won more than 100 wheelchair tennis singles and doubles titles across her career.

Barbara Gray, director of income generation and communications at Wiltshire Air Ambulance, said:

“It’s great to have Louise supporting our charity and we’d like to thank her for becoming a Charity Ambassador.

“As a Wiltshire person she understands the importance of our lifesaving service and we hope her involvement in the local area and throughout the county’s schools will help raise awareness and the funds we need to secure to continue saving lives.”

It costs £4 million a year to keep Wiltshire's Air Ambulance flying, which works out as around £11,000 a day.

The charity gets no funding from the Government, and so relies on public donations to fund its work.

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