Over £100,000 raised at RFDS Gala Dinner, London

His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales last night praised the ‘Fair Dinkum Aussie ingenuity’ of the Royal Flying Doctor Service in meeting the challenges of assisting over 800 people a day in rural and remote Australia.

As Patron of the Royal Flying Doctor Service – Friends in the UK, the Prince recorded a video message to thank the 270 guests at their Gala Dinner at the Imperial War Museum for their continued support of the Flying Doctor’s endeavours.

 “In November 2012, in Longreach, my wife and I were so pleased to be able to dedicate a Service aircraft in honour of the efforts of the Royal Flying Doctor Service – Friends in the U.K.  At that time, I was reminded of the many and varied challenges faced by the Service in delivering support where there are often no hospitals, doctors or medical services,” The Prince said.

Since the RFDS – Friends in the UK aircraft was dedicated by HRH The Prince of Wales in November 2012, it has flown 491,984 kilometres, carried out 850 missions and carried 873 patients.

The Chairman of the Royal Flying Doctor Service – Friends in the U.K, Mr Peter Box expects the 2014 Gala Dinner will have raised over £100,000. He thanked the sponsors, donors and guests for their wonderful generosity.

Adam Hills, comedian and host of The Last Leg television program, got the party started with a hilarious stand-up comedy spot. Adam brought two Australian-based RFDS ‘legends’ onto the stage to personally receive the thanks of all present in a way only Adam could contrive!

The 270 guests enjoyed premium Moss Wood wine from Western Australia while supporting the Flying Doctor by bidding on a range of valuable and unique auction prizes.

Kate Ceberano then rewarded their generosity with a sublime performance of some of her famous songs, holding the audience spell-bound. Kate flew to London courtesy of Virgin Australia especially to support the Gala Dinner for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Today, Kate will fly straight back to Australia to become the first female artist to be inducted into the Australian Songwriters Hall of Fame on 24 November.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service provides vital 24 hour emergency cover, and clinical and preventative health services across 90% of Australia’s land mass to almost 300,000 rural and remote patients per year – that’s more than one every two minutes. Operating continuously since 1928, our doctors and nurses now work from 21 bases across Australia utilising our fleet of 61 fully instrumented aircraft with the very latest technology. Today, RFDS pilots annually fly the equivalent of 25 round trips to the moon.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service is a not-for-profit organisation that relies heavily on fundraising and donations from the community to purchase aircraft and fund much-needed medical and aeronautical equipment.

 http://www.royalflyingdoctor.org.uk/gallery/