Are you ready?
What's.
Greetings.
Welcome to, what are we at?
Episode 4 of Visual PI.
Hopefully you just picked up
the audience in the
background there because
we're going to have
multiple guests coming on.
In a moment, we've got the legendary land.
There we go.
Forget about the mic.
Legendary land.
Naomi's just wetting herself
about that one now.
And Naomi Barker from
Wiltshire Air Ambulance.
And I'm live from Wiltshire Air Ambulance.
We've actually closed the
blind at the moment because
it's very bright out there
and it was affecting the camera.
They've been doing all sorts
of maintenance work on the helicopter.
That's been up and down and
whirring and all sorts of noise.
So hopefully you'll continue
to hear us through this one.
But welcome.
Don't forget, if you are watching,
if you've got any comments
or questions as the show progresses,
make sure that you drop the comment,
whether you're watching it on LinkedIn,
YouTube, Facebook, or indeed on Twitter,
although I don't know
whether I get those comments through,
but the rest of them I do.
Feel free, ask.
If we've got the guests on
and something comes to mind,
I'll be able to put it up
on screen and you will be
able to get them answered.
And it's much better when it's interactive,
these shows.
But today's topic is visible brand
creates deeper connections.
Visible brand equals deeper connections.
That's the key thing.
And one of those that really
struck me and why I created
Visual PR in the first
place with my media work
and my commercial work sort
of coming together really
was that we all use images
and we advertise in
different ways and they are
vital 100% and I'll never
stop doing them.
Same as written PR, it's all vital stuff.
but there's no personal
connection to that.
It's getting that information across,
but it doesn't necessarily
enable you to connect personally.
If you are reading a script
to camera or even just
being stereotypically interviewed,
I know Naomi and I were
talking about this earlier,
how it just doesn't feel
natural to the person on the camera.
And it doesn't feel natural
when you're watching it either.
So we really tried to make
this a conversational piece, you know,
even now where it is only
me at this stage and I'll prove it.
I'll go to the group.
It is currently only me,
but this will change shortly.
It just doesn't feel natural to everyone.
Once we have the conversational,
the integrity rises, the flow rises.
Heck,
we can go on to subjects that we
didn't plan to talk about
because it was interlinked.
People know me,
know that will happen a lot.
Even if you are just
recording pieces to your phone,
you're grabbing this conversational piece,
chatting to your phone.
It can give you that natural content,
so consider it.
But what happens,
the problem with that is
that people dry up because
they're trying to still
just present to camera and
there can sometimes be,
is it professional enough?
Well,
there lies why we do what we do here
in reality.
If someone is asking you
questions and you're
getting into a free flow
and you're going to start
remembering things that you
might have forgotten if you
were just reading the script to camera,
even if you were trying to
freestyle it a little bit.
If we've got people
interacting with comments and questions,
it's a much more engaging.
And people start to really connect to you,
connect to you as a person,
connect to you as an organization,
you as a brand.
All of those things suddenly make sense.
And the reason why Visual PR
is called PR is not because
I suddenly do all the written PR.
I work with PR legends that
know what they're doing
with the written word.
It is about the sales
message not being in your face.
It is not overtly, buy my product,
buy my service.
I'm brilliant.
My people are brilliant, et cetera.
The sales message is under the surface,
and you're educating them.
You're connecting with them
in various different ways
that resonates at the right time,
resonates at the right time,
and you suddenly reach out to them and go,
you had that show when you
were talking about X, Y,
and Z. I hadn't thought about it,
but I've got that problem,
and I really want to speak
to you about that.
That was incredibly helpful.
So you get this variety of
information that makes
sense at the right time.
Customers have choices.
Now, if they see images of your products,
if they even see videos of your products,
they can go and look at
that product or service
from someone else.
There's no personal connection.
They've just seen your
version of that product.
Even if it looks different,
they're just looking at different ones.
They'll go and look at a different one.
Then they'll get prices.
Then they'll work out where
they're going to go.
People buy from people.
It's a mantra that's been around forever.
And so if you give them that
opportunity to connect with
you as a person, and that's the royal you,
whether it's just the one
person or whether it's
multiple members of the team,
that you enable them to be
brought to life,
that is where they can go,
that's where I'm going to
buy the product or the service from.
we create you know the the
ability to connect with you
with your people with the
company with the brand
philosophy experts that
know your industry well so
that you're getting an
outside view you can have
them on as guests um giving
them education insights
training demonstrations
tours you name it anything
is possible and you do all
of those things you've now
created multiple touch points
And Mike probably talks
about touch points in
branding and marketing.
That's one of the buzz phrase,
although he's looking blank at me now.
So it would appear that he
doesn't necessarily.
But it lets them see and
feel the real you.
There is a phrase that we buy on emotion.
We justify on logic.
Well, how about when you have these shows,
suddenly we're able to
address both those points
at the same time.
Normally, it's whilst it's emotion,
you get them to sort of
want to buy it from you emotionally.
They then go away and think
about it before coming back
to make a decision.
They're normally thinking it
through logically to try and justify that,
yes,
it's OK for me to buy this product or
service.
Well,
because we're creating that connection,
you know, not just here's the product,
here's the service.
We're creating the connection.
You're able to address both
those things at the same time.
So it opens it up.
We then obviously take this
full show and we create the clips.
And this is important for
you is that I always
advocate is that if you're
going to do something longer form,
we flip it on its head here.
We create the longer form
first and we create clips
from it rather than coming
up with a whole string of
clips to use later.
in your social media your
digital marketing efforts
take the longer form get
these clips that are good
sound bites whether it's oh
that was a really powerful
comment or that was quite
funny and it's going to
interact whatever it is the
clips are created for you
the trick is make sure
you're then posting them
you put some content in the
in the texture part of your
message that helps it get
found you're going to have hashtags in it
They're going to watch the videos.
We know videos are the
bigger one over text and images,
et cetera.
But you'll always put,
watch the full video here,
the full episode here.
And you're taking them to
your YouTube channel or
your Facebook page with it
or your LinkedIn page with
it all on so they can watch
that full episode.
We can rip the audio out and
you can also point to your podcast.
But then your podcast points
to your YouTube channel,
your YouTube channel points
to your podcast.
Everything's fertilizing each other.
Am I allowed to say that?
Yeah.
All right.
I've been given a nod.
That's OK.
So it's fertilized each other.
And equally,
you remember that blog page on
your website, you know,
the one that's not been touched for, what,
18 months or more?
not add any content on it,
and yet Google love it because it's free,
you know, updating content.
Well,
suddenly every single month you're
going to have a description
of the episode and you're
going to embed the video
whilst also linking back to
the audio again.
Everything interlinks and
you're suddenly the missing
piece between PR and marketing.
takes off but I recommend
you always try to make sure
that you link your
different bits of marketing
and PR and all that heck
even in the written PR we
can have branded QR codes
that take you you know
we'll automatically update that QR code
that's either in a written
PR or it's printed on your banner,
we can update it to always
point it to your latest episode.
You don't need to throw the banner away,
sorry, Mike, and start again,
but it will automatically,
we update it to always
point to the latest episode
if that's what our client wants.
so that is my tips about
making sure that visible
brand deeper connections
let them feel you and your
brand and your people and
your knowledge and all of
that so that they will have
a deeper personal
connection with you and
then they'll reach out to
start those conversations
and that's what we're
looking for don't think of
it as as trying to sell in
this content think about
driving the conversations towards you
Hence, visible brand, deeper connections.
That's enough of me waffling
on for my part because I
hope you get the message.
What I really wanted to do is,
as I flip over,
because I've got a very
special guest that's going
to come up next.
Oh, no, sorry, it's not.
It's Mike.
No, I'm only joking.
I called you legendary land
already so I can get away with it.
someone whose speciality is
brands and about what that
brand means and how you get
it recognized and known.
I'm delighted to introduce
Mike Bland from Nickel Design.
As if by magic, here he is.
I told you that we would
have someone in the hot seat eventually.
So we've got Mike Land.
Thanks so much.
Nice to meet you, mate.
Thanks, Chris.
I haven't seen you all day.
Oh, wait, yes, we came together.
You've just been sat there
being abused and everything
else as usual.
But thank you for joining us, mate.
I mean, this is your expertise, isn't it,
is the brand.
I mean, before we go into the minutiae,
who are Nickel Design and what do you do?
uh lots of ways describing
what nickel design is uh we
are a creative agency uh
you could describe this as
a design and branding
agency um in the past we
were labeled as a marketing
support service but
basically we are a group of
designers that get together
and create wonderful
solutions for you I mean
that almost feels like
you're doing yourself an
injustice there really
because I love how you kind of take this
I mean,
I know you've opened up in a
presentation numerous times where you go,
what is a brand?
You ask the audience.
And invariably, it will be a logo.
And whilst that's a consideration,
it's not the be all and end all, is it?
No.
When I talk about the brand,
what is a brand,
people instantly think of,
they identify the first
thing they think of when
they think of a brand.
So if I said BMW,
you're probably not
thinking of the whole car.
You might not be thinking of
a model of a car.
You're probably thinking of
the logo because it's the
first thing that crosses your mind,
pops into your head.
But it's not the products you sell.
It's not the services.
It's not the item.
It's an experience.
You're selling an experience.
You're selling a solution.
And when you say experience,
I've seen it often referred
to as experience.
It's the feelings that you
have as soon as someone mentions that.
Yes, it's emotions.
So when you wear certain shoes,
is it the shoe's comfort?
Is it how it makes you feel?
Maybe it's where you wear that shoe.
I mean, you know,
the age-old thing of
Christian Louboutins are
restaurant shoes because it
can take you from the car
to the restaurant.
You're posher than me, Mike.
Sorry,
but you're not going to walk down
the road.
You're not going to go on a
stomp about to hand-win them.
So, you know, it's that experience.
And it's also identifying to
you and everybody else.
So when you see somebody
cross their feet and you
see those red soles of the shoes,
you instantly know it's
Christian Louboutin.
So it's those identifiable
or it's the label on the
jacket or the style or the
buttons or whatever it is.
I mean, how do you...
Really think about that, though,
when you have an SME or a
startup coming to you,
which is going to be a regular thing,
presumably.
We've talked about some big
household names there and you kind of go,
well, I can't relate to that.
I've got to start somewhere
but you need to be sort of
thinking that far ahead
don't you yeah I it's very
easy for me to talk about
um bigger brands the the
blue chip stuff um but we
all have a similar issue
and that is to get our
brand message our brand
communication over to our
customers and clients yes
Now,
whether you're selling a product or
service, you as an SME or a one man band,
you still got to engage with your clients,
your customers in a certain way.
So Apple and a painter and
decorator still got the same issues now.
difference is they've got to
there's a difference in
overheads print costs the
amount of customers they
need you know shareholders
whereas a you know painter
and decorators to thinking
about uh the amount of
paint he uses the amount of
time he needs to do the job
and stuff so there's about
overheads difference in
overheads about yeah yeah yeah of course
But equally,
and I'm going off on a slight
tangent probably too early here.
Yeah, you know I do this all the time.
But equally is that I'm sort
of almost there thinking of
there is a creating a brand,
but there is a rebrand,
and that presumably is
something that you get
where suddenly hindsight plays a part,
that you kind of go, oh,
my message has slightly changed,
or I've learned my business
a little bit more,
and therefore I want to
portray this in some way.
And they have to throw these ideas at you,
and you've got to
assimilate that into something.
that those were the ideal
questions or answers that
we need uh basically when
people come to me and say
I'm looking for a rebrand
we ask them why do you
think you need a rebrand
and the amount of times
that people said my sales
have dropped my messages is
not getting through now
that might not be your
rebrand it might be your
marketing it might be your
message it might be who
you're targeting so if you
think about who you target
for car manufacturers for
painting decorators aiming
as a paint and decorator to
a teenage level
is not going to be the right
age bracket for them.
They need to be thinking
about who's moved into a house,
who's got a flat,
who's decorating a business
or a house or a room.
It's about those different levels.
So it's about making sure
that your message is going
out to the right people.
Then there's a whole plethora of things,
what message, what platform,
um what time um how you're
approaching them the tone
of voice yeah there was so
many things to consider and
that's before you think
about does my logo look
right and when we talk
about brand most people
think I want a brand
refresh because they're
thinking of their logo yes
it might be just the tone of voice
And there lies a tricky one.
And I always feel for you
people in that space,
because I kind of relate to
a number of different
industries that sort of like cover,
you know, aspects of this,
is that us as business owners come and go,
yeah, this is my business.
This is what's amazing.
This is what's great.
This is what I want to do.
But you have to take that somehow.
And it could be, you know,
it could be the logo.
It could be the colours.
It could be the wording.
I mean,
we were touching on things that
seem as simple as a banner,
a pop-up banner.
Yeah.
If I was not controlled,
I would just vomit words
all over this banner and it
would do no good to man nor beast.
So you have to pull that
back and kind of pick out, right, okay,
based on that,
what we really need to do
is just do that.
Even where on the banner
that it appears can make a difference.
But you also said when we
were driving down here is
that there could be a place
for your banner to just
exist with your logo on and
presumably contact details.
But, you know,
the be all and end all is
your logo because you're
trying to create that
almost subliminal connection to.
I think Mike Land,
I picture that nickel design,
I see Chris Dawes, I see the visual PR.
it's amazing how the mind
works and you've got to
play with that yeah yeah
which I guess is fun as
well well yeah it's great
fun because obviously every
day is different every
client is slightly
different um thank God
because otherwise
everything will be quite
plain yeah but you think
about it all we're trying
to do is get them to say I
want to know more that's
the only question
And there lies the mistake is that, again,
me as a business owner,
and I'm terrible for this,
is that I feel like I'm
trying to fully educate them,
fully sell to them right now.
And it's like, no, no, no, just no.
And I guess that's why I'm
saying even with these
shows in reality is that it
doesn't need to be
absolutely everything given
away straight away.
It's like, look,
you're trying to make people go,
I want to come speak to you
to find out more.
There is a conversation there.
Well,
you just think about all of the
bigger brands that will ask
you a very simple, I mean,
we could go all the way
over to perfume adverts
where you watch a perfume
ad on TV and you're not
sure what you're watching.
You have no idea about the
smell because obviously it
is an experience.
You need to be there to
smell what that perfume does,
what it feels like,
the smell and everything else.
You're not going to get that
on the TV advert.
And they spend a lot of
money to make you go,
I need to know more.
I want to know more.
um so that's the same for
most businesses a painter
and decorator he might do
small big large whole rooms
whole buildings might have
20 staff but all he needs
you to do is to inquire
make an inquiry do you have
a challenge where people
overlook the importance of
if I call it branding.
Yes.
Do you have a, I mean,
cause it's very easy.
We already said that people
just think it's logo
including like maybe the color of it,
but that there's a whole lot more to it.
Do you have a real challenge
with people not
appreciating scope of what you do?
Yeah.
I think that's probably the hardest,
hardest part of being a designer,
being part of this creative
agency is trying to educate
other people and the
importance of brand and
There's so many people.
I mean, you just think about it.
The amount of times you go
out to a business meeting
and you'll meet half a
dozen financial people.
SJP, they might be independent.
What will make them different?
You touched on it earlier
where you said people buy from people.
Yeah.
But because of the pandemic
and the way we use the Internet,
we spend most of our time
staring into a screen,
into a mobile phone looking
for information.
So basically what's going to
make you stand out is that
looks more attractive or
that one's closer to me or
I want to know more about what he can do.
or she can do and it's I
like that it's even
relevant isn't it yes you
know it can be as simple as
that at times I was a um a
networking event recently
and I won't name names but
this particular person said
look I accept that in my
industry there's all these
other people you could go and speak to
I know just as much,
if not more than all of them,
that they can say the same about me.
It will come down to whether you like me,
whether we fit, whether we connect.
Yeah, I mean, there is other parts to it.
I mean, how unique your service is.
Or, correct me if I'm wrong,
I've also learned more
recently is how you portray.
So it might not be actually unique,
but the message could be unique.
Because I've seen some people,
and I think it came under the rebranding,
is that they kind of go, right,
I'm actually changing my product line.
And it's like, no, no, no, no, no.
Provide the same service,
but if you actually market
in a different angle.
You know, I mean,
we were chatting is that
obviously off the back of
what we do with all this, you know,
the media setup is that, yeah,
absolutely.
We can do all sorts of video work.
Looking forward to Tom
joining me next month as my
video editor and producer,
growing the team.
And we'll be able to offer even more.
I won't start marketing
myself as another video company,
another media company.
It's like, yeah,
of course we can say yes
when we work with people,
but we're going with a
brand along the line of this.
Some people might say, well,
isn't this a podcast but with video?
Yeah, I guess so.
But we supercharge it.
We can make it live.
We do the peripheral
services of post-production.
And so it's about the
message could be unique.
Yeah, the message.
The people hadn't thought of
it that way or whatever.
The tone as well.
The tone is so important,
especially in branding.
the way you talk to your customers,
I think the one that
springs to mind for me is
Harley-Davidson.
Harley-Davidson went off
with this huge campaign about,
are you adventurous enough, big enough,
strong enough,
tough enough to own a Harley-Davidson?
Which is a great way of marketing a thing.
I feel that I'm tough enough
to have a Harley-Davidson,
but now they've realized
that a third of the market, I think it is,
are female riders.
Really?
Yeah.
Now,
I'm not saying that women aren't tough,
but they had to think.
They had to change the message.
Yeah.
So basically,
it was more about being adventurous.
How far are you willing to go?
I mean, you hear it now.
Mini, I think, is a mini adventure,
isn't it?
Yes.
Yeah.
So they advertised as the mini adventure.
And then you start,
and it's only when you
start to get into the
messaging side of it,
you realize how clever some
of these companies have been.
Yes.
I know most people probably switch off,
go make a cup of tea when
the adverts come on.
It's that gap between a
program where they can go chat,
nip to the loo, go and make a cuppa.
I love adverts.
I love watching the advertising.
companies have spent
thousands of thousands trying to hone,
trying to sharpen that message.
So it really cuts deep.
So you understand you want
to know more and you're
willing to stop what you're doing.
Look on your phone, have a flick,
write it down in a pad to say, I must,
you know, check my insurance.
I must phone up the thing about the roof.
Yeah.
It's just those, those touch points,
like you said earlier.
Exactly.
Yep.
The, the, the touch points are important.
Yeah.
Um,
so one of the other messages
that I think because you
and I have obviously had
many discussions over the
last 12 months because
there's a real nice link up
with what what we attempt
to do and what you're doing
as well and one of those
key ones is that making
sure that sales message you
know we've just been very
you've given some great
examples there but it's not
always about the sales
message being slap you in the face
And although I put it down
as the PR mentality, that PR,
the sales message is under the surface,
not going, do your deal, son,
come and buy my product.
You need that message to
just keep connecting with people.
And I mean,
I'm picking up on what you were
saying there as well,
is that isn't there like a
cyclical thing to this
where you kind of nail it?
You know, I mean, you mentioned Mini.
I'm not sure they use that
Mini Adventure anymore.
I think that's been and gone.
Yeah, probably.
But there's a great example
is that that was brilliant.
It worked.
I mean, crikey, I still,
for those of you who know me,
I commentate on motorsport
professionally as well.
And if it's like a Mini race,
I still come up with that
line during them.
You know, it's stuck.
But they haven't stood still
and just kept ramming that
down our throats.
They've changed it.
I'll tell you one that's
just suddenly come to mind
that's brilliant with this
cyclical thing.
Tango.
Yes.
The you being tangos come back.
Yes, I know.
Because they stopped that
because I think there was
the controversy over people
were suddenly doing that.
I think it was kids in the
playground slapping each other.
But they then killed that
off for a while just this last week.
You probably saw a tango out there.
Yes.
And I'm like, my daughter,
12-year-old daughter,
would have never seen it in
its original guise with the slapping.
And I think it was a prison
guard trying tango in a
prison cell after he
confiscated it off her.
And that's now.
But
See, recognition, recall straight away.
I knew what you were going to say.
So that goes the other, you know,
even deeper on that cyclical.
I was about to I was
originally just going is
that you have this great success,
but you don't then just
necessarily stay with that
for the rest of your life.
Is that you then go, right,
we now need to go somewhere
else with it as well.
Doesn't mean that's failed.
It's like we've got to refresh, rebrand,
remessage, go with something different.
but you can go back to those
as well in the future
there's probably a load of
brands so if I said nike
yeah the strap line for
nike just do it there we go
yeah mcdonald's did it oh
no that's the music sorry
are you loving it yes yeah
uh howdy the vorsprung
technique yeah no one knows
what it means but
It's designed by technology
or something like that.
I knew you'd know, Mike.
Those little bits,
and even though they change their message,
so the Audi adverts won't
drill into the Volkswagen Dirk technique,
but it'll pop up as a
reminder on an advert
because people have remembered that line.
You'll know it's Audi straight away.
You don't even need the Audi logo anymore.
You know it's there.
yeah I know it is good I
mean where do you so at
what point should people be
coming and advice from
someone that's an expert in
that branding and what
journey what will you work
on and create with them uh
I know we've said logo but
you know beyond that what
else uh branding
So branding is tailoring the message.
So you have your brand,
which is the company experience.
Now,
everybody says about the logo being
the brand.
So you've already said the
logo isn't your brand,
but it is a visual item.
And then there's the message.
So the message, the logo,
the visual identity, colors, visual stuff,
that's all part of the branding.
That's how you tailor your message.
So it's about tailoring that message.
So that is the element that
we would love to work on.
Obviously, if we can get to the start,
I work on your logo, your brand, voice,
tone, everything from the very beginning.
Which is great because we
had Joe Starr on.
Was it last episode of Lost Track?
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
uh and of course that was
very much about the brand
voice which is is again
sort of like intrinsically
linked to your thing that
then you're kind of like
okay how do we now bring
that brand voice that we've
identified to life and then
it lies with you and joe
would know I mean what I
think it was warren
who said it takes 20 years
to build a brand and it
takes five minutes to destroy it.
Yes, that's no.
And that is simply just by written word.
Yeah.
No.
And it's so, so true.
And then, of course,
once you've created all of
that side of things that
we've then got the the
collateral you can create
off the back of that.
Yeah.
I think people forget the
communication side.
Yes.
So that is everything.
So brand and design is everywhere.
Everything we see, everything we touch,
everything experience,
there'll be a design
element of that all the way through.
And then there's the communication.
So people will think, well,
I've sent out my brochure,
sent out an email.
I'm giving them a business card.
But there's social media, there's news,
advertising, recruitment.
Even the way you recruit new staff,
that is part of your brand message.
The reviews you get,
that all contributes to your reputation,
your brand reputation,
and what people perceive as you.
so if you look great sound
great um smell great but
your reviews are all one
star because he didn't do
this he didn't do that yeah
provide this that destroys
that reputation will break
down that brand so it's
everything your
communication is all part
of it yeah and I mean in
terms of collateral it
could be flyers brochures
banners anything that's printed but
There's a whole side that we don't touch.
So as a creative design agency,
we tend to stick with the
items that we can control.
So it's produced, printed.
And then there's another
whole step that's above that,
which is what we call the digital side.
So it used to be below the
line and above the line advertising.
So above the line used to be TV and radio.
And because you had to rely
on people like yourself
that has to do the recording,
where it goes out to,
where it's published,
we can control a lot of those elements.
So if you were in TV advertising,
obviously you need to talk to a channel.
So there used to be two sides of that.
No, it makes sense.
I mean,
the other one as well is just give
us a quick synopsis.
Some of your clients that
you have worked with over the years.
I always love this.
Really impressive.
Yeah.
So I've been very fortunate.
So when I moved to Swindon
to go to art college,
the first job I got was with a newspaper.
But as I worked my way through,
I got to meet a guy called
Martin Fullerton.
And my first job was art
directing a photo shoot for
Devere Hotels.
Wow.
So we went over to Cambridge.
I directed a photo shoot and
I didn't realize this is
going to be a lot of their brochures.
And then over the time it was Chevron,
Texaco, Battersea Dogs Home, Blue Cross,
Leaks of London.
And it's just grown from there,
which is what makes my job different.
But there is so many local
companies as well.
There is.
And I did want to,
I was about to follow that
up by making this absolutely clear.
We're sort of like having
some excitement here about
the level of these,
but there is plenty of
local companies that you
work with as well, which is cool.
How do they get hold of you?
I do have that here.
Let me just go down as if by magic.
Yeah.
He says, is this somewhere?
There we go.
Nickeldesign.co.uk,
N-I-C-K-E-L design.co.uk.
Your company, you started it?
Yes.
Yeah.
Yes.
It had a different name back in 2004,
but that was the historical
start of the company.
Yeah.
And it's grown ever since, really.
There's been a few changes over the years,
as a lot of companies do, but yeah,
we're still going strong.
Always what you wanted to do?
Was this branding?
Yeah, well, I've been...
doing it now for 30-odd years now.
Yeah, yeah.
I know.
It makes me sick.
He doesn't look old enough for that,
does he?
I know, I know.
We're now starting to touch
on to the personal you,
which is going to gradually
lead us seamlessly into the next section,
is you're like an absolute fitness freak,
aren't you?
You're nuts.
You do loads of stuff.
Yes.
I enjoy the fitness.
I don't probably look like I
enjoy the fitness, but, yeah,
I do enjoy the fitness.
Yeah,
including that you're a spin instructor.
Yeah, I teach spin every week.
Other cycling products are available.
Yeah.
Indoor cycling,
as I should really label it.
And I teach a boot camp on a Saturday,
Saturday morning,
and then I run with certain
friends on Tuesdays at the
local running club.
yeah so there's local
running club and then pt
and a bit of running in
between love it I love it
now this leads us on to
don't forget by the way if
you've got comments or
questions for mike please
do pop them in uh in the
comments uh if that wasn't enough
you've got a big challenge
come up now I'm going to
step back and say your
motivation for a all the
fitness that you do all of
I mean I when we when I
picked you up earlier
seeing the the unbelievable
amount of medals whether
it's tough mother marathons
half marathons have you
done the desert the sabler
or not yet that's the no
that's bonkers though isn't
it you know that your
motivation for going and
doing these bonkers things
comes from an incident that
happened to you
30 years ago this month.
31 years ago this month, yeah.
So tell us about that.
Yeah,
so I was the sixth person in the UK
to have a bungee rope snap during a jump.
And I've been going through
over the paperwork recently
because we did the practice
poll last Thursday.
I'll come on to that in a minute.
Yeah, we'll come on to that in a minute.
We did a practice poll and I
went through my notes.
I realised all the little
details that hadn't
obviously pondered over or
jotted over the last few years.
Basically, it said that due to my accident,
I'll be unsuitable for
manual labour as a job.
And I didn't realize they
actually said it in the report.
But because of my memory loss,
damage to fractured pelvis,
damaged ribs on the left-hand side,
lost emotion to my neck and right leg,
I shouldn't be able to do
what I'm doing now.
And that was your motivator.
As soon as someone says you can't,
Oh, yeah.
That's the challenge, isn't it?
Some people accept it.
Some people will fight to
try and prove otherwise.
And I was one of those,
fight to prove otherwise.
I mean,
I'm deliberately not going to take
you too deep into the whole experience,
because without question,
it would have been horrific and traumatic,
et cetera, for you.
I have no doubt.
But it's motivated you to do these things.
And this next one,
and it's why we're here at
Semington at the Wiltshire
Air Ambulance HQ.
Thank you for hosting us.
It's lovely to be here.
Is that, understandably,
those guys are something
that really resonates with you.
That you go, wow, the service we do.
And we'll come into what they do, why,
et cetera, in more detail in a moment.
But you are going for a world record
the longest distance pulling
a van in a 24-hour vanpool.
Is that correct?
Yes, yes.
But I should point out,
this is partly Naomi's fault,
who you'll hear from later.
I threw around some ideas.
So I've ever sailed off the Spinnaker.
I've been locked in jail for a day.
I've done ballroom classes.
I've run marathons, auto race charity.
And we threw around some
ideas of me to pull a vehicle.
And the idea was just to
pull a vehicle so people
could sponsor me per mile, per minute,
per hour,
and just see how long I could go.
I was doing the usual
research about I wanted an
image to go on the poster.
So I was thinking Tom Stoltman or
Eddie Hall might be doing a van pull,
truck pull.
I could use some of their
imagery just to get
people's appetite for
wanting to get involved and sponsor,
donate.
And I found out there's a
world record for pulling a
vehicle further distance in 24 hours.
Now,
I thought, okay,
there's an option or
there's a chance for me
trying to go for the record,
depending on distance, obviously.
And yeah, that's where it started.
The details are one and a half ton vehicle,
24 hours over a flat ground,
the versus distance,
which at the moment is 32.1 miles.
And I'm aiming to do 36 miles.
you going that far above it
um because the guys that
got the current record said
unless somebody beats us by
a small margin they
wouldn't do it again and
they've done it twice oh
okay so uh yeah I just want
to make sure that if
comfortably yeah
comfortably above until
another strong person and
I'm just about to put
comment in uh to all of the
channels that you could be
watching this hopefully is
the link that you could go
to to support mike
supporting wheelchair air
ambulance so that has now
put the link uh it for you
all so you should see
that link that is now on
screen you'll now
understand why I've put it
in the comments because
that's a big long link that
we've got on there um but
please do if if you can
assist and in case you
wondered why before we move
on to that section I'm just
going to very quickly show
you a short video of why
it's so important
My name's Stuart Hirschbein, and in 2012,
when I was perceived to be a young,
fit PE teacher, I collapsed at home.
So I was paralysed down one side.
It looked to the signs of a stroke,
but in fact,
what I had was a condition
called hydrocephalus,
which is fluid on the brain.
I needed to get to the
hospital really fast,
and if I'd gone by land,
it would have taken me an
hour and a quarter to get
to the nearest hospital.
This is when Wiltshire
Ambulance entered my life,
and thank God they did.
They were there within 10
minutes to pick me up from
a light landing site and it
was in foggy conditions and
they managed to get me to Bristol.
It was a good job they got
me there in 10 minutes
because I was told later on
that I would not have
survived if I hadn't have
got there in that time.
I'm sat here today because
of the Wiltshire Ambulance.
It's enabled me to do
everything I ever wanted.
I've got back to full fitness.
It was a big fight but I got
back to full fitness.
I returned to work as a PE
teacher in a secondary school
And even more importantly,
I was able to get married
and have two beautiful children.
I owe my life to Wiltshire
Ambulance and I also give
back to them now any way I can,
doing things like talking,
guest speaking.
I've also ran the Bath Half
Marathon twice.
Wiltshire Ambulance is our
insurance of the sky.
Without the donations of the
people of Wiltshire,
it wouldn't be there and it
wouldn't have been there to
save me or actually give
life to my two daughters
and a husband to my wife.
Please donate.
Well, if that doesn't hit home,
nothing will.
I mean,
that was a prime example of
somebody that has still got a life,
somebody who's got a husband, a dad,
a son,
everything in that particular example.
And that resonates with yourself.
Yeah, definitely did.
So in terms of this
challenge to raise money,
I know you make the comment
saying it costs £12,000
Yes, just over £12,000 per day.
Yeah, it is per day.
I mean,
it's just still because it blows my mind.
And it's not government funded,
which I know we're coming to.
I don't think it's lottery funded either.
No.
So it deserves and needs the
assistance to keep it
flying and all of the team
to help people that need it.
And a prime example there.
So completely understand the
support you're doing for it.
And even if the challenge is challenged,
still got a slight
challenge of the exact location.
You're hoping to do it next month,
but you keep getting
challenges with the
location because it's got to be flat.
It's got to be long enough
because they can't be,
if you were suddenly going downhill,
even though there must be
the argument that you'll
have to go uphill as well, but hey,
it's fine.
The world record rules are strict.
Yeah.
Um, so still fine.
If there's any bear that,
and don't do the usual ones like Cologne,
Lavington.
Yeah.
So line them.
They're not options, sadly.
No.
So basically I thought that
an airfield would be the
best option just because
the length and the width.
Yeah.
Turn around.
But it could be a road,
it could be around an industrial unit.
Which we saw on the way here, didn't we?
You suddenly went, that could be good.
So inside of what,
before it's been fitted out.
Yeah.
The inside of an industrial unit.
Unused industrial units.
So I did look at quite a few areas.
I mean, BMW, the Stratton plant at BMW.
Yeah, yeah.
They tried their best to
give me an area where I
could use part of the truck
route out coming out of the plant.
Yeah.
Unfortunately, it's not flat enough.
So it just got to that point
where I thought, I mean,
BMW offered to change their truck route.
No way.
They were looking at a shift
so that the shift pattern,
I could go in and I
wouldn't interrupt their shift patterns.
Incredible.
So they were really helpful
to trying to find somewhere.
But it doesn't have to be an airfield.
It's just that an airfield
was just the biggest big space.
Yeah, I mean,
we could be looking at motor
racing spaces or anything like that.
But again, a lot of circuits, for example,
aren't flat.
Most circuits aren't flat.
Yeah,
our beloved Castle Combe circuit just
up the road.
Yeah, Castle Combe's not flat enough.
Definitely isn't flat, that's for sure.
Yeah, up Avon Royce,
you don't want to be cleared up there.
Yeah, I think when I looked at Silverstone,
the Silverstone car park
was flatter than the actual track.
Obviously, the track is... Oh, really?
So it's just about finding that area.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
but last week you did the
practice pool yeah practice
pool um again given an
opportunity for for the
sponsors and because you
know it's not just sponsors
as in you know whatever
there is each organization
sponsoring and getting on
the van that you're pulling
putting the name on there
and in the publicity and
and you definitely copy
them in on it or tag them
in on everything
And you went down there with
the van and they could have
a go at pulling it.
Yeah.
How did that go?
Oh, that was fab.
I mean,
it was great that the BBC came down.
Of course, yeah.
Point West.
So Point West came down.
Ben Prater from BBC Wiltshire.
Yeah.
Doing the morning programme.
So I should be on the radio
all this week and the
morning programme and dotted around.
I think Swindon 105 FM as well.
They were down and they did
a report a couple of days ago,
I think it was.
So that was great.
And then there was the
support of my support team, family,
friends and everything else.
A couple of businesses came down.
Some of them just wanted
their photograph in the harness.
So they looked like they were pulling.
I'd have been one of them.
I think Paul Cav, David Cavanaugh,
he was just doing his photo
shoot of him strapped in,
leaning forward in the van.
And Bud, one of the supporters,
came over with his bacon roll on a plate,
served to him,
just so we could catch him out, really.
But I mean, it was a great event.
The weather,
I'm a bit brown because I
caught the sun all that day.
Cotswold Airport were very,
very kind enough to let us have the area,
which is Britannia Road.
That would have been a perfect road,
but the gradient doesn't
meet the criteria for the world records.
Otherwise,
I would have been doing it there.
It's so tough.
And I know to that camera
there is that show the T-shirt.
There you go.
So even in full regalia,
we've got it all there.
It's been clean since then.
Anything more you want to say on that side,
or should we get the charity in question?
No, I think we should get the charity in.
Okay, right.
It is now the charity spotlight section,
and we're going to do a quick...
jiggery-pokery of the
seating and what have you,
make sure I've got the right one.
It is a section of this show
that I'm very precious
about is the fact that it's
a charity spotlight.
It's not just about collecting money.
It's about understanding why they exist,
what they do,
because sometimes that
message is missed in the
information that's put out.
And it's really important to
make sure we really get
what they are there for.
how they do it and why we
should be listening to the
work that they're doing and
support them as much as we can.
So it's now the charity spotlight section.
Alone, we can do so little,
but together we can do so much.
Visual PR's charity
spotlight is about shining
a light on the amazing work
and objectives of charities
as they do not do it for publicity,
but it is important that we
know about them,
what they do and understand why.
Charity is not just about
making a donation,
it is about making a difference.
Yeah,
I'm afraid the bad news is with me
being a voiceover artist as well,
it means you still get my
voice even on those bits.
But delighted, Naomi Barker.
Now, I've got to remind myself,
I haven't put it down, your job title,
yes.
Corporate Partnerships Lead.
That's the one.
Looking after businesses.
Brilliant.
Welcome, Naomi.
Thank you.
I apologise if you're very
patiently slash nervously waiting there.
I'm giggling at some of the
things that you've been saying.
It's always going to be the way,
always going to be the way.
First things first about you, Naomi.
How long have you been here
with Wiltshire Air Ambulance?
It's just coming up to my 18th month.
Okay.
So a year and a half and
loving every minute of it.
Were you involved in the
charity sector before?
So I started life as a
primary school teacher and
then moved into the National Trust.
That's where my love of
fundraising came from.
Oh, wow.
So we realised that the
property that we were
looking after down in
Winchester was actually
falling down and we needed
to find a little bit extra cash.
So we put on a duck race and I thought,
I really enjoy this.
And then a few years later,
I was made redundant and a
job came up here and I thought,
you know what,
I'm just going to go for it
and see what happens.
And apparently one of the
personality traits that you
need to be a corporate
fundraiser is you like to talk.
So here I am.
Wasn't she saying earlier
that she's behind?
We bought that.
We went, oh, bless.
We now realize that was all fake.
That's not true.
Oh, entirely.
Okay, now in terms of wheelchair ambulance,
I know that this is going
to be stated in the office to some extent,
but speak to me,
what do wheelchair ambulance do?
So Wiltshire Air Ambulance, in a nutshell,
saves lives.
It's a helicopter emergency
medical service.
And we provide that service to Wiltshire,
Bath and the surrounding areas.
We'll go wherever we need to
go and we'll help whoever
we need to help.
But yeah, that's our aim,
is to make a difference.
And one of the key things
that I was picking up on
speaking to you earlier is
that they were obviously
just maintaining the aircraft.
Anything that runs needs
maintenance as well.
And that meant that you instantly,
although apparently this happens anyway,
is that there were then in
the cars strategically low rated,
strategically, it's easy for me to say.
Yeah.
strategically located around Bath, Swindon,
whatever,
so that whilst that was being worked on,
no problem, we're still covered,
we've got them there ready
to go instantly.
So it's a much bigger consideration,
isn't it?
It's a huge operation.
So you think we are online 19 hours a day,
365 days of the year.
We have two shifts, if you like,
a day shift and a night shift.
And that's generally made up of a pilot,
two paramedics or a pilot,
a paramedic and a doctor.
And it's about bringing the
emergency room from the
hospital to the side of the road.
You've probably heard of that phrase,
the golden hour.
Yes.
Making sure you get to somebody really,
really quickly.
And so the air ambulance was
born out of getting
somebody and being able to
transfer them really,
really fast to hospital.
And now it's about making sure they're OK,
they're stabilised,
they've had the drugs that they need,
they've been looked after.
OK, now we can think,
where can we take them?
And it gives you that little
bit of extra time to be
able to go to the right hospital.
Yeah, because what they need...
will determine which
hospital they need to go.
Absolutely.
So we see a lot of cardiac arrests,
huge amount of trauma,
road traffic collisions.
Yes, of course.
So you think you've got John
Radcliffe up in Oxfordshire,
Southampton and Southmead in Bristol.
They're your big trauma units.
We can get to anywhere in
Wiltshire within 11 minutes.
We can be... Quicker than you.
Just.
We can be up to John
Radcliffe in 15 minutes.
But when the helicopter is offline,
we do fly low.
We fly over lots of houses, people.
It needs to be safe for everyone involved.
We've got our two critical care cars.
And that just means that we
can dual task as well.
So the helicopter and the
car can go hitting
everything from different angles.
I mean,
one of the big ones that I remember
when we've been talking
about this with you is that
you've, as well as having that service,
the helicopter, the cars, the personnel,
for goodness sake,
these are like top level
medical professionals.
But equally, you needed to have,
I think you touched on it a second ago,
is that
bring the hospital to them
to some extent for that golden hour.
So blood, plasma, drugs.
All of it.
All there, ready to use.
Yeah, sleep well machines and things.
One of my favourite pieces
of kit that I take everywhere with me,
if I can, is the Lucas machine.
So like I touched on,
we see a lot of cardiac arrests.
So you, me, even the fittest person.
She looked at you, not me.
LAUGHTER
But we can only really give
effective CPR for one, one and a half,
two minutes.
After that, we're tired.
We're not pushing deep enough.
So we have this incredible
machine called the Lupus device,
which is an automated CPR device.
In fact, I think you've seen it.
Yeah.
Literally,
it takes over and it does the CPR for you,
which means that it's doing it reliably,
effectively, consistently,
and it means that the crew
then are free to go without singing.
Staying alert.
Yes.
something like that although
I don't know that's not
fast enough no no is it
right something else it
used to be nelly the
elephant and then yeah that
was right yeah it changes
far too quickly I tell you
what I think that but
they're still happening now
I don't know whether this
will work it probably won't
because it's very bright
out there just you can't
quite see it and rob our
duty pilot has actually
brought back some of the
crew oh really yeah oh yeah
that must mean we're now online
So you can't quite see it, sadly.
I don't think even if I go to me here,
it's just a bit too bright.
But it is just out there.
Incredible service.
They've been busy getting that all sorted.
Really, really impressive.
So sorry, we interrupt.
I interrupt,
allowed ourselves to be
interrupted by the excitement.
Every time that we've heard the noise,
we've still gone to the window,
haven't we?
But it genuinely doesn't get old.
But I was chatting to one of
our paramedics and you still hear me.
No, what?
Yes.
Apologies if we're a little
bit too loud or you can't hear us,
but it is live.
We are really excited.
One of our paramedics,
he calls it a moral
quandary because we look at
it and get really excited.
It's going up in the air.
We see the green and yellow helicopter.
Isn't it amazing?
Children love it.
But actually...
there's a bad story there's
a really poorly person at
the end that really needs
our help so yes see I
always wondered why we have
a box um medical
helicopters everywhere yeah
I know there is air
ambulances 21 air
ambulances across the uk um
so we all sort of look
after each other stealing
when we need to um and I
think that's why we are
actually quite happy
that we're a charity because
we get to make those decisions.
We can push the boundaries
of the clinical resources that we can buy,
fund ourselves.
But what I haven't said
that's really important is
that we couldn't do it
without the white lands of the world,
without the members of the public,
without the businesses that support us.
It's literally their
generosity that saves lives.
We couldn't do it without them.
And that is a key one,
is that it's important to understand,
and I did touch on this already,
no government funding.
No lottery.
No lottery funding.
No,
and this was an interesting line I
hadn't thought of, no NHS funding.
Someone,
I remember we were in a networking thing,
and someone raised the question saying,
well, if you take that person,
so they have no ambulances out to be sent,
and you take them to the hospital,
do you invoice the hospital?
It's like, no, there's nothing there.
It is purely self-funded, you know, self-
funded by the public yeah
exactly which is why you
know you you've got these
charitable things like what
you're doing to try and to
raise the money um you've
got your general sort of
raising money for the
charity the contributions
the monthly contributions
we've got the business club
Next Tuesday.
Yep.
So the Business Club is a
networking group at its heart.
And it was born out of a
desire to give back to the
businesses that look after us.
So, yes, you've got the community groups,
people running the
marathons and the baths
half and things like that.
But the businesses that look after us,
I wanted to give something back.
Yes.
and networking,
building their profile and
really showcasing that
affiliation was what we could give back.
So yeah,
the Business Club on next Tuesday.
And we're a little bit wider than that.
I'm looking at you and I now
because you're playing
football on Swindon Town Football Club.
Play on the pitch.
That's supported by Swindon
Town Football Club,
who also look after us.
And we were gifted a charity match.
So, yeah, we've got a match going on.
2pm kick-off tomorrow afternoon.
And it's all going on.
We've got the mascot.
We've got children coming
out onto the pitch and celebrating.
Food, drinks, the works.
It'll be great.
Go, Mike Lamb.
And I've got my gold
pom-poms back out for you as well.
I have to say, I'm not a football player.
I think the last time I
played football was at school.
We'll be the judge of that tomorrow, mate.
We'll be the judge of that.
I think the whole point of
fundraising is to do what
makes you happy.
It's not a labour of love.
It's what's put in the fun in fundraising.
If my colleagues are watching this,
they're going to literally
just cringe at that.
I can't believe you went there.
You went there.
I did go there.
I'm really sorry.
But it is.
It's about doing something
that you love and weaving
it into your life.
Absolutely.
I mean,
because I think it's got to be
traditionally sort of like...
one direction or the other
either there's we saw the
video there is the
emotional link ie yeah
either victim or someone
you know yeah exactly or
let's have some fun that's
going to give back or you
know fun isn't the only one
you talk about the business
club it's like going yeah
as business owners that
kind of resonates doesn't
it and it's like well if
we're doing it why can't we
do it where the money that
we're paying to go and do
it is going to a really good cause
And we also hire out our training rooms.
We do accredited first aid courses.
So it's all those boxes on
your strategic business
plan that you could tick
and support the charity at the same time.
And any philanthropists watching,
watch it this time of day
I'm not sure they're
normally busy yeah yeah
true and you can watch this
on capture by the way um
but I mean you've even got
a team that work with
philanthropists that kind
of go we want to know where
to do and and that sort of
you relationship manage
that as well to make sure they understand
Yeah,
we're just developing a major donors
scheme as well.
So the people that give a lot of money,
shall we say,
how to better look after them.
It's all about building and
growing into our potential
and looking after the
supporters and making it a family.
Again, please,
if you've got any comments or questions,
chip in, type them in the comments.
We'll be able to put them up on the screen,
like I did with this one
when I posted this comment to you all,
is that I can have that
with your profile name and photo,
et cetera.
So any questions or comments, please,
please do it.
And I'll ask a difficult
question now that you may
not even have the answer.
Why isn't it government funded?
Oh, no.
Yeah, that's what I wanted to know.
Sorry, I went there, didn't I?
If you're going to throw the fun bomb in,
I'm going to throw that one in.
Absolutely.
I think the question should
be is why we aren't government funded.
You think about the police helicopters.
When they were nationalised,
those helicopters were
pretty much halved.
So imagine if we were to be nationalised,
be part of the NHS.
There's so many things going
on in the NHS at the moment.
Money's really, really tight.
Do you focus on cancer patients?
Do you focus on taking the
emergency room to the side of the road?
Do you focus on looking at new drugs?
What is your focus?
You can't look at all of it.
That is turning on its head, isn't it?
It says, actually,
it's better that it's not
in the queue for the rest of that.
I mean,
because you could argue that a
helicopter is an expense
over and above what an
ambulance could do.
Yeah.
But just think, as you said earlier,
that 11 minutes,
that 11 minute window from
getting them from where
they are to somewhere in
Wiltshire to be looked after.
Well, and even the getting there,
isn't there?
I mean,
you were saying is that
they'll get the call.
They're scrambled in two minutes.
Pilots instantly out there,
got everything fired up.
The rest of the team are
getting the location, the notes.
That's all they need.
Out they go.
In, by that point,
the helicopter's up to speed.
Off it goes.
It's there.
There's no traffic to sit in.
There's no traffic lights.
No Sunday afternoon drivers.
No, exactly.
And, you know,
the ambulances have a
terrible time in the fact
that even those that are considerate,
it scares the bejesus out of you.
And you kind of go, oh, where do I go?
And if you've suddenly
delayed that ambulance
enough that you never know
what it is to get in there.
But I'd never really thought
of it that way around.
That's like going, actually,
why would we want it funded?
Yeah.
Would they be the first
people that are cut funding?
Certainly would be less.
I mean, your police one,
that's such a valid point.
And I only learned that, you know,
a few months ago because I
asked the same questions.
And I also asked questions like,
we don't always save lives.
So why do people still look after us?
You know, have we failed people?
If, you know, you can't, we're not God.
We're not going to make sure
that everybody, we do our best,
but not everybody survives.
And so I asked that question,
a really hard question going, well,
then we failed people.
And then I turned that on
its head and thought, actually,
it's about making a
difference in the community.
Yeah.
Every time we go out,
which is on average about
three times a day,
we always make a difference
to either the patient, their family,
their friends, the community.
And it is being part of
something greater than just you.
Because it isn't always about going,
treating the ambulance,
putting the patient in the
air ambulance and then
taking them to hospital.
Obviously, again, with motor racing,
where sadly we have times
where we have to call on air ambulance.
And I know I was at Castle Combe circuit,
I can't remember,
it was either a year or two ago,
and we had two air ambulances turn up.
Yep.
So I don't know where the
other one would have been from,
to be honest.
You've got five in the southwest.
Okay.
But they were different times.
Yeah.
And the reason being is that
that was the air ambulance that we know,
but the incident was
serious enough that we
needed a particular doctor type,
and it actually brought the doctor to us.
Absolutely.
So you see it a lot.
There was a horrendous crash
on the A361 going out of Froome.
really nasty.
And I think there were two air ambulances.
You always have the land
ambulance as well.
If it's a road traffic collision,
you've got fire brigade and
police as well.
So everybody's on scene sometimes.
So the story you heard from Stuart,
it was actually the land
ambulance that went to him first.
They took one look at him
because the call came into 999.
They went, okay, you know, he's collapsed.
Let's send the ambulance.
They took one look at him and went,
he looks like he's having a stroke.
we need those extra level of expertise,
those extra drugs,
which then brings in our
enhanced and specialist paramedics.
They bring that next level of care.
I was going to say that
brings up another question then.
When does the level jump in?
So obviously the NHS, you phone 909,
I need an ambulance.
Yep.
When does the ambulance or
the dispatch crew go,
we needed a helicopter instead of a... Oh,
I can answer that one.
That's far easier than your question,
Chris.
Yeah.
I failed again, hadn't I?
So imagine when your 999 call comes in,
it's being looked after,
listened to by a team down in Exeter.
So I said we were a
helicopter emergency medical service,
HEMS for short.
We've got our HEMS desk down in Exeter.
they listen out to all the
999 calls and they look for
sort of tag words, the cardiac arrest,
trauma, fall from height.
And then they'll go, oh,
that looks like something
the air ambulance needs to go to.
So then they look at the map and say, okay,
which is the closest asset?
So if we're already at a job
up in Swindon and there's
another incident down in Salisbury,
we might not necessarily be the closest.
So you might find one of the
other air ambulances is.
So they'll get called in,
we'll get called in.
And that's how we're tasked.
And I guess, like you say,
is that sometimes if it's a
particular medical requirement,
the team there can call it.
They're probably not going
to know that on a 999 call,
I wouldn't have thought, are they?
You panic as well, though,
when you're making a 999 call.
100%, yeah.
You're not a medical person.
You have no idea what's happening.
No.
I can't imagine anything worse.
So to be able to have that
conversation with the 999
crew and the HEMS desk,
I think it's really important.
Sometimes our guys are
called just to have a
conversation about an incident.
So they'll be called up and going, right,
I've got somebody here.
They're looking like this.
They're presenting these symptoms.
You know, what should we, could we do?
and our guys might just help
or they might go do you
know what we're close let's
come on down yes but let's
not forget that each
mission um I said about
three a day it's about four
and a half grand per
mission 12 grand a day
which is what mike is
aiming for for his van pull
um which equates to four
and a half million a year
that's just the operational
cost I was about to say a
minute ago that doesn't
include the helicopter does it
So running costs the helicopter,
but when our Bell 429
eventually gets so old that
we need to replace her,
we're looking at another 7, 8,
9 mil on top of our running.
And it's vital to all of us.
And I guess it's like that
insurance policy,
because I sit here emotionally going, oh,
I really pray I never die.
need it for me or for
someone close to me or I
think you even touched on
it to witness something
that requires it you know
it might not even be
personally connected but to
witness something that
needs it however to know
that it's there oh
Yeah, well, I was going to say,
we see the air ambulance
land in a grass area near our house.
And the amount of people
that are rushed down to take photos,
because again,
they get excited because
it's an air ambulance.
They forget, instantly forget.
It gets posted on social media.
We often joke that's what
our pilots are for.
Not only do they pilot the helicopter,
they're also bodyguards.
back off or if they land um
like uh school playgrounds
feel they're great in the
weekday to land in so we
need something that's about
the size of two tennis
courts at night even larger
um so if we land in a
school you've all the
school children and their
teachers that come out so
the pilots are there doing
that pr bit you know
they're chatting talking
about what so you have to
but you even though it
would be ideal just keep
them fully away but you
still have to do the
pr but yeah I mean I presume
that all the hospitals have
got helicopter landing pads
either outside or inside no
not all um no on the top so
you may have seen on the
news salisbury's just got a
brand new helipad we went
and launched it with them
um if we airlift a bath we
land in the cricket pitch next door
oh wow we've got an
agreement they don't have a
helipad sometimes you land
so far away that actually
the ambulance needs to come
and pick the crew up but
it's really worth noting
that we don't always
transfer in the helicopter
sometimes we've stabilized
them to a point where they
can go in the back of the
land ambulance and one of
our crew will go with them
and that then means we
either come back to base to
refuel or we can go
straight to another incident
more benefits from being
transported by helicopter over ambulance?
I mean,
is it... There's got to be the
speed thing while you would go,
but surely... But, yeah, is it smoother?
Not everyone's going to be
comfortable in an air ambulance,
are they?
I don't think they're going to.
No, let's be honest.
I would be insistent on it.
Because they're not, like,
sat in the window, are they,
looking out and going, oh, look,
you can see my house.
They're not doing any of that.
They're at the back.
And I would just hate that whole idea,
the claustrophobia as well
as the being on it.
But I'll be honest.
Go on.
I'm going to say, honestly,
the instance that we go to,
if it came back to you,
you would not know where you were,
who you were.
But I guess my... Because I
always thought that that would be worse,
but I...
I had a heart scare last year.
And I say heart scare
because it turns out it
wasn't a heart attack, thank goodness.
But it was certainly,
didn't know that at the time.
But it, I got, sorry,
I was just making sure that
something was on then.
They took me to hospital
because they weren't sure,
they weren't comfortable.
They got me stabilised and
took me off by road ambulance.
Lights and sirens the lot
from Castle Combe Circuit.
It was such a great place
for me to have this scare because,
of course,
they got the full medical centre there.
And off I went.
through all the lights and
everything it was blooming
terrifying being in the
ambulance on that you're
just there with what is
quite a big space around
you going oh my god and I
realized yes I did know
everything that was going
on but that's because
largely I'd kind of
predominantly settled down
but they were worried that
I could go again
during that journey to get
me there so uh there is no
lesser greater I don't
think is there no I think
it's speed it it's whatever
the incident calls for and
that's why it's such a complex
thing because you never know
what's going to happen.
The crew come in in the morning,
they brief in the morning
about the weather,
about anything that's going
on in the skies.
Obviously,
we're very close to Salisbury Plains,
so it's military as well.
We've been communicating
with all these different
groups of people to make
sure that we're flying safely,
that they're behaving safely.
and you just don't know
what's going to happen.
Don't do.
We didn't know.
My stuff behind that
staggered three a day.
On average,
there have been days where
we've gone out 10, 14 times.
That's just incredible, isn't it?
And it's no wonder, therefore,
why the support.
Are the pilots medically trained as well?
No, they're not medically trained.
They're focusing on the pilot.
Yep, but they can,
so you talked about blood and plasma.
So we started carrying blood
products in 2015.
So we can do full blood
transactions at the side of the road.
And we have a Lyoplav,
which is a freeze-dried plasma.
Oh, wow.
So all you do is you add
water and then you pump it
through a blood warmer into
the patient's body.
But you have to swill this
lyoplasm really gently,
like you're doing a gin and tonic.
Nothing gentle about my gin and tonic.
The pilots are well trained
in swilling lyoplasm.
But the opposite way,
the paramedics are trained
as a technical crew member.
So they can land the helicopter.
They can read all the dials.
Oh, my God.
I didn't know that.
So the med team can go the other way.
Yeah, so you see a lot of helicopters.
They're dual pilots.
You have your two pilots.
But we've got a smaller aircraft.
It's nippier.
It's faster, lighter,
which means that's why we
can get places a little bit
quicker than others.
We can lift faster.
But it means that we've only
got the one pilot.
So the paramedics are
trained to just read the dials,
to navigate.
And if
Worst case scenario, absolutely.
They could take over the controls.
Yeah, and land.
That's just incredible, isn't it?
That really is.
Where do you get your pilots from?
all but one are ex-military.
Yeah, which is why we can fly at night.
Volunteers or?
No, they're paid.
All paid for by the charity.
Yeah.
They don't do sort of like,
what do they call it?
Not abscond.
That's when you escape from the prison.
Not abscond.
What's the one where you let
them out for a year?
That's the word.
Abscond, succumb.
They're not secondments from something.
No,
so the pilots are fully paid by the
charity.
The paramedics,
we do get a little bit of...
of their wage from the NHS.
And the doctors are fully
funded by the charity as well.
None of them come cheaply either.
Oh, no, no, no.
Well, I mean,
you think that they are the
top level qualified,
the years and everything else.
That makes complete sense.
I mean, it's just incredible, isn't it?
And I mean,
that's why it's like we need to
sort of keep this thing
flying in the air.
It's absolutely vital.
I hope that none of us need it,
but it's there if we do.
And we've heard that, sadly,
an awful lot of people do regularly,
daily, multiple times.
Last year, 1,167 missions.
That's what we were called to.
You can't even compute that.
646 in the helicopter, 521 in the cars.
A lot of poorly people.
And I think there's a key one is to,
although obviously
wheelchair air ambulance is
that it's all about the helicopter,
but it's not,
I know you did say it already,
but it is important to
remember the whole service
is the cars as well.
Yep.
And the people and the kit that we have.
Yeah.
And you've presumably got the,
for want of a better phrase,
the call centre here as well.
No, so no call centre here.
So it all happens down at
the HEMS desk in Exeter and
then the calls come through
to us and the paramedics,
pilots can pick it up and
then go from there.
So that's all down in our
operational bit downstairs
where it's nice and cool.
Yes, right.
It is now in here.
It wasn't earlier, was it?
But it is now.
I'm just running away.
Any other questions that you can think of?
No,
I was just going to say about donations.
Obviously,
trying to get donations and
people can donate online.
They can come and do
fundraising opportunities.
Yep.
So we put on lots of
challenge events throughout the year.
So play on the pitch is our next one.
We've got Snowden Sunrise.
If you're a bit of a thrill
seeker and you'd like to
jump out of a plane,
you can do a skydive with us.
There you go.
That's next on your bucket list.
Any family or friends
watching will be laughing
at the idea of getting me to do that.
I think September, isn't it?
It is.
I'm not tandeming with you, mate.
No, you're a professional.
You're all right.
Don't worry.
But I think Mike's also doing it.
That doesn't surprise me.
He said he'd get to a
certain amount that he
would then jump out of the party.
Yeah,
I think we went past that amount as well.
So last year, I...
When I first met Naomi,
I said I would pledge to
raise one and a half thousand.
And we went past the one and
a half thousand threshold.
I think I might have laughed
when he said that.
And I said, when we get to two and a half,
I'll jump out of the plane.
And we got to five quite quickly.
So, yeah.
And we're now around about halfway.
So we're just at the £6,000 mark.
Keep it going.
Yeah,
what's difficult for me is it's been days,
months, weeks,
trying to raise enough
money for one day for them.
So there needs to be... But even £100.
So not everybody can raise £12,000.
Not everybody can pull a van.
Not everybody can put as
much time and effort as you have.
We're very, very lucky.
Other people might put on a bake sale,
and that's no less important.
Yeah, see, eating cake, easy.
We've got a lovely coffee
morning just around the corner from me.
And they get together once a month.
Ridge Coffee Club.
Yeah, the Ridge Coffee Club.
And they get together,
even donated one of their
quiz nights to the band pool.
Yeah.
But they've raised quite a few thousand.
Yes.
So they raise a couple of
hundred each time they put
on a coffee morning.
And over the years, I mean,
they've been with us since, you know,
2010, 13, something like that.
They've raised well over a day's worth.
But even if it's £100,
that will still fund a blood warmer.
That still helps give a blood transfusion.
No amount is too small.
I think that's always an
important thing is that
because I used to
occasionally fall into the
trap is you kind of go, you know,
I can't really give any
more than the 10 or 50.
And we're being told now not
to with everything that's
going on in the world with
the cost of living.
What's the first thing to go?
It has to be all your charity,
direct debit and anything you don't need.
And let's face it,
if you're going to choose
to feed your family or donate to charity,
you're going to feed your family.
So,
am I allowed to say that Tesco coined
the phrase beautifully,
every penny helps?
It does, it really does.
No, and I think, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
absolutely.
Seamlessly back again.
I don't know Aldi,
but I definitely know Aldi.
seamlessly back to brandon
no I mean and I put up the
thing
wheelchairairambulance.co.uk jump on
have a look all of the
information's there it
emotionally it's a
no-brainer isn't it and it
is as they say is don't
underestimate how important
just that little bit uh
that we that can be given
And don't just think about
it as giving some money
right there itself.
It's like these examples
where you or your
organisation about doing
activities that is raising
money from other people,
that suddenly that
organisation getting
multiple people able to
help in those little bits,
suddenly it's a bigger lump
that goes through.
And I'll probably get a
little bit blubby now,
but it's about making
friendships and lasting relationships.
And I think I can consider
Mike a friend now, you know.
Yeah.
Do you know what I mean?
It's building those relationships.
It might not necessarily be
a one-off donation.
It might be little and often.
It might just be spreading awareness.
But, you know, come get to know us.
Which is what's a big thing
that your stuff's been doing, isn't it?
It's definitely spreading a
whole lot of awareness.
It's like your branding now.
It's the Vanpool guy.
Yeah, well.
It comes up in every meeting,
and you don't even need to
bring it up anymore,
and it will come up for someone.
I mean, if it's still creating awareness.
It's just brilliant.
No, not at all.
Incidentally,
and also on another personal one,
we've got to say a massive
congratulations.
Naomi is engaged to be wed.
Not to Mike.
Who is it?
To my other half, Rick.
Rick, congratulations to you as well,
mate.
Congratulations to you.
Your finance is over there.
autocorrect but
congratulations on that as
well thank you very much
lovely to see with all the
hard work that you do is
that there's still all that
personal touch out there as
well and we love that we're
very lucky we get to spend
the time with the real
person as well as
everything that you'll do
and and that's what this is
about isn't it making sure
that people get to know the
people as well
And like you say, people buy from people.
People support something
that is close to their hearts.
And when you get to know
someone and know their story,
I've met Stuart,
whose story you heard earlier.
Oh, really?
I still cry every time he talks about it.
I know, you stitched us right up.
I do have the other video,
but I'm not playing it
because I was there trying
to be manly and not cry in
a networking breakfast
meeting because you played
that three minutes one.
Yeah.
it's just incredible but
he's playing football
tomorrow and he is playing
football tomorrow oh wow
which I've met before as
well that is incredible um
actually do you know what I
am going to play it as the
close out but I'm going to
finish with us on camera at
this point uh and I mean I
am going to play out the uh
wheelchair ambulance videos
from their youtube channel
so look you can see all of
this stuff on the
wheelchair ambulance
youtube channel on the website
Naomi,
it's been an absolute pleasure to
have you on.
I suppose it's been a
pleasure to have you on as well, Mike.
No, it has.
It's been brilliant.
Thank you so much for watching.
Appreciate it.
Keep your eyes peeled
because this will then pop
up in the clips and
everything for everybody to look.
Any questions about the van pool?
Get in touch.
Anything about how you can support?
Obviously,
I've got the wheelchair air ambulance.
I'll be fair because it's a while ago.
I put this up as you've got
nickeldesign.co.uk.
And of course,
you've already got up in the
top left hand corner my
website to discuss.
what we can do in terms of
bringing you and your
stories to life with visual
pr but I'm going to play us
out with the wheelchair
ambulance video from us
here live at semington
thank you for your company
and I'll see you next month
for episode five we are
there with really poorly
people who are at their
worst moment in their lives potentially
For that moment, they're my family,
so that patient is my world.
There's a real emotional
investment as well as a clinical one.
That person's probably going
to remember that day
forever and although we see
these patients far too
frequently unfortunately,
for them that's the one
moment that they've got of
Wiltshire Ambience.
It's a powerful, fast aircraft.
We can go up to 155 knots with that.
So that's about 170, 180 miles an hour.
And obviously if you can get
a 30 mile an hour wind behind you,
which is quite possible,
we can be up to three miles
a minute across the ground.
No two days are the same.
We might come in and see
traumatic patients or cardiac patients.
They're all very different.
And we can only do this
because of the generosity
of the businesses and the
members of the public who
put on fundraising events
and provide us with that funding.
Everybody gets it.
They all get that the Air
Ambulance is something that
they might need,
their son or daughter might need,
their mother or father might need.
And it doesn't matter who you are,
what you look like, what you believe in,
the Air Ambulance is a
vital service for everybody
and everybody completely
understands that.
It's very much
part of civil society here in Wiltshire.
Once the task comes in,
what will happen is the
pilot will then go out to the aircraft,
start it up while the
clinicians are plotting
where the incident is and
then we will make our way
towards the aircraft and
off we go to that incident.
So we can be in the air from
the moment that call comes
in to us within about two minutes,
less than two minutes.
And then we can be on the
side of the road within
Wiltshire in about 11
minutes offering the
critical care service that we offer.
It is not funded by the government.
It wasn't set up by the
government in the first place.
It's kind of like the RNLI of the air.
And we rely entirely on
people of Wiltshire to fund this service.
As it says on the sideline machine,
it's funded by you flying for you.
And it really is that every
penny that's donated is a
penny used towards treating that patient.
Bye.