With a brief to raise millions of pounds to keep the Great North Air Ambulance in the skies, Grahame Pickering has his work cut out. LINDSAY JENNINGS meets a man with a mission.

TO SAY that Grahame Pickering lives and breathes his role as head of the Great North Air Ambulance charity would be an understatement. He freely admits it is a good move that the charity's new offices in the Imperial Centre in Darlington, County Durham, are only open from 8am to 8pm - otherwise he would be there all night.

"My wife, Angela, worries at times that I've been doing too much because one of the things about the job is that I'm never away from it. But I just love the challenge and I want to show people that it can be done," he says.

"When I stepped into the job, all I had was a volunteer helper and her mother and about 10,000 plastic collection tins, which someone had bought before my arrival. That was about it. I ran the charity from my house.

"During the day, I'd handle letters, correspondence, stick on stamps and organise events and functions. In the evenings, I'd go out and give talks, make plans - the whole kit and caboodle. Even now, if the telephone rings at 10.30 at night I can't resist answering it, and I'll be up at 2am because I can't sleep and I'm wondering if we're going to get that corporate sponsor we've been hoping for.

"But even though it's still quite hectic, things are starting to calm down. We have five trustees and a small team of dedicated people, and it's with their help that I've been able to get the structure in place."

Since last month, his solo efforts have been boosted by further volunteers, a paid office manager and two employees responsible for canvassing and fundraising.

Grahame, 49, was born into a coal mining family in Houghton-le-Spring, near Sunderland. He left school at 15 to work as an apprentice electrician at Easington Colliery for five years. He then had a career change, working in sales, including a spell selling display advertising for a North-East newspaper, before he answered the call of Durham County Ambulance Service in 1990.

'I was fed up with the sales environment, and I know it sounds a bit slushy, but I just wanted to do something a bit more selfless," he recalls.

The dad-of-three has always had an interest in aviation and holds a pilot's licence. When a job as a paramedic with the air ambulance service came up three years ago, he leapt at the chance - even though he had to commute from his home in Darlington to Blyth every day.

Working on the air ambulance gave him the chance to experience first hand the part the aircraft could play, whisking people to hospital within minutes and dramatically improving their chances of survival.

The air ambulance charity was officially launched in 1991 by the Northumbria Ambulance Service after a successful trial. A few years later, the amalgamated ambulance services led to the aircraft extending its coverage from Darlington to the Scottish Borders.

In 1994, country clothing firm J Barbour and Sons stepped forward and made a donation running into six figures, enabling the charity to buy its first helicopter, a Twin Squirrel. The AA came in with corporate sponsorship in 1999 to help maintain air ambulance services across the country, but that ended in March this year, leaving some air ambulance charities in financial peril.

"There are a lot of air ambulances in the country which are struggling now because of it. I know of five ambulances which have had to turn to the Government just to keep them going," he says.

Since becoming chief executive 12 months ago, Grahame has been redefining the charity, making it a more autonomous outfit which will not leave a dent in the finances of the ambulance service.

"We've been very fortunate in that we've had strong financial support from the ambulance service, unlike in other parts of the country, but the charity needs now to accept total responsibility for funding its own operation."

It is clear he is fiercely protective of the charity's independence and keen to distance it from any politics. "I've always strived to detach it from the politics of the NHS.

"One of my biggest worries is that the Government will turn around and fund it because we would lose the aircraft within two years," he says. "When there's the pressure on to perform and budgets come into it, some accountant would find a way of shutting it down for not being cost effective.

'If they can close hospital wards down in the name of budgets, I really believe it would be the death knell for the air ambulance. It is far better if it belongs to the people."

Next month, on July 8, the charity launches a month-long trial with a second helicopter based at Teesside Airport. It is costing the charity £70,000 and Grahame hopes that when the month is up it will have firmly established itself in the minds of people in County Durham, Teesside and North Yorkshire - so much so the rest of the money will be found to make it a permanent fixture.

It will cost £2m per year to run an aircraft in Blyth and Teesside and, regardless of whether the Teesside aircraft is a success, the Blyth helicopter, which is 20 years old, will have to be replaced within the next two years, due to EU regulations, at a cost of more than £2m.

"It's not as if we can raise funds for a new church steeple and that is that, we need money to come in continually to sustain it," he says. "But you can always guarantee that, whatever money is raised, every penny will be used to keep this service in the air."

The interview is almost over and Grahame is getting a little twitchy, pacing over to the window and back to his seat. In his mind, he has already leapt ahead to the next item on his extensive list of things to do.

"This has become a bit of a crusade for me," he says, which is something of an understatement. "I've been a paramedic I've worked on that aircraft and seen people survive because of it, and I've seen people die in front of my eyes. I know what it can do and how it can help people. It just needs people to see that and take it on as their own."

* To make a donation to the Great North Air Ambulance, contact the office on (01325) 487263 or write to

the charity at the Imperial Centre, Grange Road, Darlington, DL1 5NQ.