On Thursday, 5th October faith leaders from across Cambridgeshire gathered at the new Magpas Air Ambulance base to partake in blessing the new building.
The Magpas Air Ambulance airbase, headquarters and training centre was opened by HRH The Princess Royal in September, with the charity’s staff, clinical and aviation teams moving in the weeks following. The new building has been designed to better support the growing 24/7 service as well as enhance the wellbeing of the Magpas Air Ambulance crews. Additionally, being based in Alconbury Weald—just a stone’s throw away from the region’s major trunk roads—the location of the new building, combined with its bespoke design optimising crew dispatch, will reduce activation times too. This will enable the charity to respond as quickly as possible to patients in life-threatening emergencies across the region.
After hearing from the charity’s founder, Dr Neville Silverston MBE, who spoke about the origins of Magpas Air Ambulance and how it’s grown and developed over the past 52 years, leaders representing 10 different faiths gathered at the front of the new building. The leaders took it in turn to bless the base in different ways, all thanking the people and the work undertaken within the building for its important impact on the community.
The religions represented at the event, by 14 different community and faith leaders, were Bahá'í, Buddhist, Catholic, Church of England, Hindu, Islam, Methodist, Orthodox Jewish, Reform Jewish and Sikh.
Magpas Air Ambulance Chief Executive Officer, Daryl Brown MBE DL, explained “The event was a wonderful way to reflect on the importance of our new charity base and the work all our team members undertake from the facility. Our clinicians and aviation team in particular have hazardous elements to their roles and bringing a multitude of faiths together to wish them well in their work and bestow positive affirmations on staff and the building was an important occasion for many.”
