Recycled cans collected by Peterborough cadets to help create hospital helipads

Last Thursday saw cadets from Walton Detachment of No. 1 (Hereward) Company, Cambridgeshire Army Cadet Force, hand over more than 7,000 crushed recycled cans that they have been collecting for charity.

Since August cadets from across the company have been collecting the cans which have now been handed over to Helipads for Hospitals. The aim for these cans is that they will be melted down and used to make the components so that ultimately every hospital will have a much-needed helipad.

It is estimated that there are 600 hospitals across the UK without the facilities to allow for an air ambulance to land on site. This means the helicopters need to land in nearby fields or parks where the patient is transferred to an ambulance and then driven to the hospital, wasting valuable time.

This project has been championed in rotary clubs across the area and local club presidents Aasiyah Joseph (Peterborough Rotary Club), Lesley Ewen (Peterborough Ortons Rotary Club) and Rylan Ray (Peterborough Rotaract Club) came along on the evening to congratulate the cadets and to thank them for their hard work.

During the evening the cadets received a presentation from the founder of Helipads for Hospitals, John Nowell. He explained the how the project works and why it is so important. He also told the cadets that it takes an approximate one million cans to build each helipad, however, there are an estimated 50 million cans sent to landfill in the UK every single week.

Major Lesley Deacon, Commanding Officer of 1 (Hereward) Company, was in attendance to hear the presentation and see the handover. Member of Parliament for Peterborough, Paul Bristow, joined her to praise the cadets and to highlight this as one of the many amazing things the Army Cadet Force does locally and nationally.

Ms Joseph said: “This is a wonderful effort by a group of young men and women, some of whom will go on to defend our country. This is yet another illustration of how young adults are leading the way in social responsibility, not only in terms of fundraising for amazing causes but also highlighting the benefits of recycling and helping to save our planet.”

Mr Bristow said: “It is inspiring to see young people taking such an active interest in making a change. The Army Cadet Force is an incredible organisation that develops important skills within our future leaders and professionals.

“It was an honour to be invited to see the hard work these cadets have put in over the last few months for such an incredible cause. It is community work like this, from individuals like these, that makes me proud of Peterborough.”

Major Deacon said: “Community engagement is an important part of being an Army Cadet. Over the last six months Walton Detachment have been collecting aluminium cans to support the great work of the Helipads for Hospitals charity. I am very proud of the amount of cans collected and know they are very much appreciated by the charity.”

Sergeant Major Moody said: “Since Annual Camp 2019 the cadets have been collecting cans at detachment, bringing them in from home and even getting parents to collect cans at their workplace. Working in early care myself I know how important it is to speed up the process of getting emergency aid to patients and being able to cut out the transfer from helicopter to ambulance is crucial.”

The local Army Cadet Force has detachments across Peterborough and Fenland and takes cadets from 12 years old (Year 8 at school) through to 18, delivering adventurous training, shooting opportunities and skills for life such as first aid, teamwork and leadership.

Anyone interested in joining the ACF as a cadet or as an adult volunteer can find out more at armycadets.com/county/cambridgeshire-acf.