Volunteer’s ‘award-winning beard’ raises money for Heli2 Appeal

A long-standing member of the Cornwall Air Ambulance ‘Groundcrew’ has been named as a winner in the 2024 British Beard & Moustache Championships, all whilst raising money for the Heli2 Appeal. 

Paul Ford, who this year celebrated 10 years volunteering for the charity, decided he wanted to take on a fundraising challenge to mark the milestone.

Having attended the Devon & Cornwall Beard and Moustache Championships as a volunteer for many years, Paul decided he wanted to give it a go himself and raise money towards a second lifesaving helicopter.

Paul started to grow out his beard in July, and come the competition in October, he was delighted to take the winning title in the ‘natural full beard & moustache under one inch’ category.

He said: “I was really amazed that I actually won the category! It felt great to do it and the people there are really nice, meeting old friends and making new ones, and people have been so generous to the charity.”

Paul hopes to have raised several hundred pounds towards the Heli2 Appeal.

He added: “Having a second helicopter of the identical type is so important, it will add to our resilience, that if there is a technical issue then we have a spare that we can fly – it will also crucially help us save more lives. Also, when we have visitors coming to the base, hopefully there will be a helicopter there for them to see, and that does make a big difference to raising funds. It is so important that we can provide the best service to the people of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.”

You can find Paul’s Just Giving page here. https://www.justgiving.com/page/paul-ford-1721139366280?utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=page%2Fpaul-ford-1721139366280&utm_source=FB&utm_campaign=000&fbclid=IwY2xjawF55OBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHWbMJZMcfjiedwafFOd07lTmXHXEUQSKp_SbFQfBMlWUo4T5XiWKYdxM7A_aem_Az8z3bcu9o72INc5pTn_4Q