MEMBERS from That's Entertainment met staff from Wiltshire Air Ambulance to hand over a cheque for £9,100, which came from funds left over from the group before the Chippenham dance group closed earlier this year after 23 years of entertaining people in the town.

"We had a fantastic couple of hours there, the helicopter was in and the pilot and crew gave us a very informative and interesting talk of the helicopter and their roles in saving lives," secretary June Best said. "It was a truly memorable time spent with an amazing crew.”

The group, which was originally set up by nine members to share their love of dancing, gave their last performance at the Neeld Community and Arts Centre in April.

Claire Kelly, head of people, retail and supporter engagement at Wiltshire Air Ambulance, said: “We’re so grateful to That’s Entertainment for their very generous donation which will help us to save lives now and into the future.

“Their donation of £9,100 has been split equally between our day-to-day revenue costs, which will help to keep our helicopter and crew flying, and our Airbase Appeal, which is raising the remaining funds needed to complete the building and equipping of our new airbase at Semington.

“We were delighted to welcome some of the people involved in That’s Entertainment to our Operations Centre, Devizes, where they were shown round our helicopter by our pilot and paramedics.”

The Airbase Appeal to raise the remaining £1.25 million to complete the building and equipping of the new airbase at Semington has so far raised £416,284, leaving £833,716 still to be raised.

Work on the new airbase is gathering pace. The roof is complete and work on installing the wall cladding is under way.

You can see the progress of the work by going to www.wiltshireairbaseappeal.co.uk and also find out how to donate to the Airbase Appeal.