WILTSHIRE Air Ambulance has appointed three new trustees to its board.

Brian Stables is a company director from Bradford on Avon as well as being chairman of the Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust. Mandy Wood is a local authority tenancy sustainment officer from Chippenham. And the third appointee is Anna Cole, a solicitor from Liddiard Millicent, who also serves as chairman of Swindon & District Headway.

They join the current board of five trustees at a time when the charity has just signed a 10-year contract with Heli Charter to supply a new Bell 429 helicopter, which will come into service at the end of 2014, when the lease on the present 12-year-old aircraft expires and the current partnership with Wiltshire Police ends. The charity will need to raise £2.5m a year to keep this new air ambulance operational across the county.

Trustees, who work for free, provide strategic leadership to the charity and make sure it is doing what it sets out to do. Richard Youens, the board of trustees chairman, said: “We feel that in Brian, Mandy and Anna we have found people who not only bring unique skills to the charity but who also understand the county of Wiltshire and therefore will be able fully to represent its people and their aspirations.”