WILTSHIRE Air Ambulance Charitable Trust has announced the appointment of Mandy Clarke as its new chairman of the board of trustees.

Mrs Clarke has been a trustee since the charity was formed in October 2011 and was previously vice-chairman. She was unanimously elected chairman for the next three years succeeding Richard Youens, who takes on the new role as president of the charity for the next three years.

Originally from Lancashire, Mrs Clarke moved with her family to Wiltshire when she was a teenager, attending Stonehenge School in Amesbury, followed by Salisbury College of Art and Technology. At the age of 19 she joined the RAF as a commissioned officer in fighter control monitoring air defences.

Achieving the rank of Flight Lieutenant, she served for five years and was based all over the country. She has worked in human resources for 24 years and since 2010 has run her own management consultancy business, undertaking human resources and transformation work.

Now living in Chippenham, she is looking forward to the charity taking delivery of its new helicopter, a Bell 429, which will be the first of its kind to operate as an air ambulance in the UK.

Wiltshire Air Ambulance’s costs will increase from £700,000 a year to £2.5 million a year from January 2015 when its current partnership with Wiltshire Police for the joint helicopter ends this December and the helicopter joins the National Police Air Service.