PRESS RELEASE

Date: 25 March 2009

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN AND YORKSHIRE AIR AMBULANCE LAUNCH ‘KEEP IT UP’ CAMPAIGN

Huddersfield Town Football Club and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance have today launched the ‘KEEP IT UP’ campaign to help keep the charity’s helicopters maintained and airborne. The pioneering campaign aims to establish sustainable income for the Yorkshire wide charity which has to raise £7,200 per day to continue their life-saving service.

Underpinning ‘KEEP IT UP’ is increased exposure for Yorkshire Air Ambulance whose distinctive red branding will appear on the front of Huddersfield Town’s home shirts for the next three seasons. It will be the first time that the professional Football Club will have a noncommercial company occupying the traditional ‘sponsors’ position on the front of the home shirt.

Income streams for the independent charity will be established and driven by HuddersfieldTown FC from which 50p in every pound raised by the Club will be donated to Yorkshire AirAmbulance, with the other 50p being donated to the Club’s Youth Academy which activelypromotes the development of future football stars from the local community. A calendar of high-profile, Yorkshire-wide events and other commercial activities will compliment the shirt naming.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance provides a rapid-response emergency service to 5 million people across Yorkshire. Their two helicopters, G-SASH and G-CEMS, fly three hundred and sixty- five days a year from Leeds-Bradford International Airport and Sheffield City Heliport. They cover a vast landscape that includes major cities, motorways and rural and isolated locations and it is estimated the helicopters are active in HD postcodes at least once a week with at least 34 patients being airlifted to hospital from the Huddersfield area in the last two years.

Huddersfield Town’s Director of Business Development, Sean Jarvis, said: “The ‘KEEP IT UP’ campaign is the start of a new era for Huddersfield Town and the relationship with YAA  is something I think all supporters can be proud of. Of course, it goes a long way beyond just Huddersfield Town and I hope that everyone in Huddersfield and in the wider area show their support for this worthy charity.
“From a supporters’ point of view, I am delighted that our first team will have the word ‘Yorkshire’ across the front of their chests from next season.” 

Yorkshire Air Ambulance’s Director of Fundraising, Paul Gowland also commented: “This is an exciting and innovative partnership for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and will help us to create a new, sustainable income stream for the charity. We are proud to be associated with such a great Yorkshire football club as Huddersfield Town and look forward to working with them and their supporters to promote the ‘Keep It Up’ campaign, as well as raising awareness of our charity”