Specsavers Fundraising for Air Ambulance NI – 27/06/2025

A locally owned and run opticians in Newry has begun a fundraising partnership with Air Ambulance Northern Ireland (AANI).

Specsavers Newry at Buttercrane Shopping Centre is run by four local store partners, bringing urgent and everyday care to those who need it alongside their team of over 50 in-store.

They say they understand the need for accessible emergency care as they see this every day at their store, while the Air Ambulance service remains one of the most important to fund across Northern Ireland and in particularly, the Newry, Mourne and Down District.

Kerri Rafferty, optician director at the store says, ‘Air Ambulance NI is a charity that works with the NI Ambulance Service to provide the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) for the region, attending some of the most traumatic medical incidents across the province. In the past, the Newry, Mourne and Down District has been the area that received the most Air Ambulance call-outs across Northern Ireland, so we also understand the local need.

‘Like our team, the HEMS team are dedicated to delivering the very best possible pre-hospital critical care, and it costs £6,850 each day to run these critical services. They rely entirely on support from the public and local businesses like ours, so we are delighted to officially begin our fundraising efforts for the organisation.’

Just recently, the Air Amblance was tasked to a call in Newry where a member of the public had fallen gravely ill, which brings the reason for their fundraising all the more into focus.

Retail director, Sharon Fegan added, ‘The whole town was in awe of the Air Ambulance landing so skillfully in the busy town centre and bringing that urgent and critical care to a member of our community. It brought it sharply into focus just how much we need such services and our whole team is ready to get stuck into many fundraising events and initiatives to keep them in the air.’

Colleen Milligan, Business Development and Project Manager at Air Ambulance NI added, ‘We are just delighted that Specsavers Newry has decided to fundraise for our organisation. It is not broadly known that AANI is a charity, but we rely heavily on fundraising partnerships such as this one to keep our services and medics in the sky. We are looking forward to supporting the team with their fundraising activities, and we know their customers and patients will also support their efforts wholeheartedly!’

PHOTO: Johnny Cochrane, Hannah Fisher and Teenie Kinney from Specsavers Newry celebrate the store’s new fundraising partnership with Air Ambulance NI.

To support the fundraising efforts for AANI, visit the Specsavers Newry team in-store. To book an appointment at Specsavers Newry call 028 3025 0011 or visit specsavers.co.uk/stores/newry