Bake Off to Take Off for Luton and Dunstable Hospital’s helipad appeal

Bake Off to Take Off was inspired by the hospital celebrating its 80th birthday this year. There is a fundraising pack online which includes posters, invitations, a bunting template and a selection of baking recipes chosen by some of the hospital’s teams.

Sarah Amexheta, Head of Charity, said: “This is a milestone year for the L&D, and Preparing to Land is the charity’s flagship appeal for the 80th birthday celebrations. We have had a lot of fun with bake-offs between hospital staff in the past, but thought it was about time to stop eating all the cake ourselves and start spreading the love. Hopefully the pack will provide inspiration enough for events large and small. We look forward to seeing the results.”

The appeal aims to generate £1.5m, the final sum required to secure the project to build a helipad within the hospital complex.

With no helipad at the hospital, air ambulances land on a local school playing field and transfer patients to the hospital by road.

If it is deemed too risky to undertake the final road transfer, casualties can potentially be transferred to the nearest emergency helipads, in Northamptonshire, Cambridge or London.

The closest of these is more than 25 miles away.

The majority of the helipad funding, over £4m, is already in place, it is hoped that the helipad will be operational by 2021. To download the pack visit the charity section at www.ldh.nhs.uk/ or to make a donation visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ldhhelipad.