OUR campaign to save the Wiltshire Air Ambulance is gathering pace.

So far more than 3,000 people have signed our petitions and many accident survivors have come forward to tell their story.

Among them is grandmother Stella Freeman who choked while eating her lunch on Sunday and is convinced the Wiltshire Air Ambulance helped to save her life.

Mrs Freeman, 81, lives at St Luke's Court in Marlborough, on the edge of the Common where the air ambulance was able to land.

In minutes she was in Swindon's Great Western Hospital where doctors confirmed that the first paramedics that arrived at Mrs Freeman's home had cleared the obstruction.

Mrs Freeman's husband Bill, a retired lawyer, raised the alarm after his wife began to choke. He called for help from Peter Hussey, who manages the English Courtyard retirement homes at St Luke's Court, and when they failed to shift the obstruction they dialled 999.

Mr Hussey said: "In less than five minutes a paramedic arrived by car followed four or five minutes later by an ambulance."

The ambulance crews tried all the standard procedures used when a person is choking including the Heimlich technique that involves sharp compression of the abdomen.

They then called for assistance from the air ambulance, which landed on the Common.

Mrs Freeman, who was discharged from hospital on Monday, said: "I could well have owed my life to the air ambulance being so prompt.

"I think it is essential for any county to have an air ambulance especially one like Wiltshire where there are great distances involved between communities and hospitals."

Clare Jones, whose husband Michael, 65, collapsed at home in Coulston after suffering a stroke, also believes the air ambulance is responsible for saving his life.

His wife was at work at Devizes Books and Mr Jones was unable to get to the telephone to call for help as the stroke had left him paralysed down his right side.

He had been lying on the floor at home for about six hours until Mrs Jones arrived home from work.

She immediately dialled 999 and an ambulance crew drove to their house within about ten minutes.

The crew gave immediate first aid and drove him to Devizes where he was transferred into the Wiltshire Air Ambulance which flew him to the Great Western Hospital within minutes.

Mrs Jones said: "Michael had been lying on the floor for so long before I got to him and he was hypothermic. He was very ill and if he hadn't been taken to hospital by the air ambulance he would have died.

"We are so grateful that it was there when we needed it. No one knows when they will need the air ambulance, it could be at anytime and anywhere."

Mr Jones stayed at GWH for two weeks then was transferred to the stroke unit at Chippenham Hospital for six weeks after which he returned home.