On Monday, 25th November, clinicians, charity supporters and staff from over the years gathered at the Magpas Air Ambulance airbase in Alconbury Weald.
The celebration was in honour of the charity’s co-founder, Dr Neville Silverston MBE, who set up the emergency service alongside Dr Derek Cracknell MBE in 1971, when they could see people needlessly dying in road traffic collisions and vowed to do something about it.
Dr Silverston explains, “When we set up the service, it was at a time when the UK death rate—as a result of road accidents—was over 8,000 people a year, when the ambulance service was not run by the NHS and there was no such thing as an A&E consultant.
“I recruited 120 GPs in Cambridgeshire to attend every accident in every location, 24 hours a day. And with the support of the population we served, we raised the funds to equip every doctor with medical and radio equipment.”
Over 50 years on from Derek and Neville’s brainchild, Magpas Air Ambulance has treated over 70,000 patients; saving lives and keeping families together for generations.
Now the most advanced doctors and paramedics respond to emergencies via a helicopter or one of the charity’s three rapid response vehicles, providing specialist pre-hospital emergency medical care, including surgical procedures, to patients across the East of England and beyond 24/7.
Last year, Magpas Air Ambulance moved into its new base in Alconbury Weald—a purpose-built, permanent home for the lifesaving charity. At the front of the building, an English green oak tree and three silver birch trees were planted in memory of Dr Derek Cracknell MBE.
On Monday, the building’s patient and family room was named after Neville—who is well known in the community, having been a GP for many Cambridgeshire residents, and now lives in the city.
The Silverston Family Room is a dedicated, calm space for patients and their families to meet the team that treated them and ask them questions, away from the bustle of day-to-day operations. The room includes a pastel portrait of Dr Silverston in his role as a doctor in the 70s when the charity was in its early operating days, which was hand-drawn by one of the charity’s former patients, Alexandra Smith, whose life was saved by Magpas Air Ambulance.
Dr Rod Mackenzie, who has worked with the service since the 1990s said, “As we unveil this beautiful tribute, I am mindful of the countless lives that have been saved—and the families that have been made whole—because of the principles Dr Silverston set in motion.
Through his tireless efforts, Neville not only founded the charity but also inspired generations of doctors to innovate, to push boundaries, and to ensure the very best care reaches patients when they need it most.
This tribute is a fitting acknowledgement of the lives he has saved and the profound impact he’s had on pre-hospital care.”
