Six decommissioned London ambulances
will be setting off in convoy on an epic 10,000-mile road trip to
Mongolia from Horse Guards Parade this Saturday at
10.30am.
A team of 20 volunteers will be driving the
Leyland DAF ambulances, which previously served Londoners for over
ten years, through Europe, Russia and Kazakhstan before handing
over the vehicles to healthcare providers in the Mongolian capital
Ulaanbaatar.
The team, made up of volunteers from the
London Ambulance Service, international aid charity Go Help and
children’s charity MERU, will take around five weeks to complete
the trip, as part of the Mongolia Charity Rally.
London Ambulance Service volunteer Tim
Saunders, one of the trip team leaders, said: “These ambulances
have reached the end of their active life in London and so we’re
taking them where they can continue to help people on the other
side of the world.
“We’re trying to raise as much money as
possible to get the ambulances out there. We’re also raising money
for children’s charity MERU.”
To help raise funds for the trip, the team
have made a charity single ‘Breakfast in Mongolia’; based on the
1979 Supertramp hit ‘Breakfast in America’.
To find out more about the trip, buy the
charity single or donate money, please visit the team’s blog
http://www.ambostomongolia.blogspot.com/
Media who would like to attend the launch are
asked to contact Alistair Drummond on 020 7783 2115.
Notes to editors:
- For further information about the London Ambulance Service or
this news release please contact the communications department on
020 7783 2286.
- Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ldn_ambulance
or visit us on facebook at www.facebook.com/londonambulanceservice
- MERU is a small charity based in Epsom, Surrey, and is the
London Ambulance Service Chief Executive’s nominated charity. They
design and manufacture bespoke equipment for children and young
adults with disabilities, where there is no other mainstream
solution available on the market.
- Go Help is a small UK charity that develops innovative
fundraising events to fund sustainable health and education
projects across Central Asia. The Mongolia Charity Rally and the
Roof of the World Rally are Go Help’s two major fundraising
events.