Aerial Services Scotland Blog

Dear Mr Mclver,

At the end of a year when going back to ‘normal’ hasn’t always been easy, Samaritans are helping people find light on their darkest days.

Stephanie felt like she had been carrying around a ‘dark cloud’ for years, but opening up to a Samaritan helped change her story.

“After the call, I just felt this huge rush of relief. I’d told someone how I was really feeling”
Any one of us could find ourselves struggling to cope and that’s why it’s so important that Samaritans are there to help people like Stephanie find the strength to carry on.

Every call we answer could be the one that saves or changes someone’s life, and we couldn’t do it without your support.

Your kindness could help someone who’s struggling see brighter days to come.

Be a Samaritans Christmas Star and donate today
Thank you and Merry Christmas

Mary
Samaritans volunteer

P.S. I will be one of over 1,500 volunteers giving up their time to answer calls on Christmas Day. Just £5 could fund a call for help from someone like Stephanie.

Dear Mr McIver,

The Big Give Christmas Challenge is now open and this year we are raising vital funds to equip a new training centre for impoverished young women who are out of education in Tanzania.

The challenge lasts from noon today, Tuesday 30th November and finishes at noon on Tuesday 7th December.

All donations which we receive online via the Big Give website during this time will be matched by our funding Champion. This means that all your donations are doubled in value, but only for one week.

We hope to raise a total of £20,000 to fully equip the new training centre in Kiluvya, Dar es Salaam, with sewing machines and tailoring equipment to teach tailoring, clothing technology and garment design to 120 young women each year.

With these new skills the young women will be able to find work locally or set up their own businesses to support their families. The workshop is desperately needed in the region and will serve the most deprived local women in the community for many years to come.

The new training centre will teach young women like Casta, valuable skills to help them find work.

Taking part in the Big Give challenge is an incredible way to support our work and last year your generous support for our Big Give 2020 appeal helped us raise £15,000 to equip a new electronics teaching workshop for our girls’ school in Guatemala.

The workshop has now been completed and equipped and is in constant use. It is making a huge difference to all the girls in this school. With the right tools and equipment, they can now study hard and develop the technical expertise they need to find a good local job when they leave school.

Education is the key to ending poverty and thanks to you these girls from the poorest families will now be qualified for work and able to make a better future for themselves and their families.

Thanks!

Hi Robert,

Sometimes wishes do come true. But if you want to win an incredible £10,000 in our Christmas Wishes Raffle – you need to enter very soon.

Just imagine what you could do with £10,000! There may be a new kitchen or bathroom on your wish list. Or you might want to treat someone special to a luxurious short break.

There are 102 guaranteed prizes in total, including a second prize of £500, 10 third prizes of £25 and 90 runner-up prizes of £10.

It’s only £1 per ticket to enter our Christmas Wishes Raffle – so why not enter today?

You can make wishes come true for pets like Pomegranate

Do you remember Pomegranate, the sweet kitten born with a rare condition that meant she couldn’t walk? Well, thanks to daily physio at our rehoming centre, Pomegranate’s legs grew stronger and soon she was able to walk and run. Now, she’s enjoying a healthy, happy life with a loving new family.

That’s the difference you can make to pets in urgent need when you play our raffle – but you’ll need to hurry! The closing date is 10 December to return your ticket stubs in the post or you can enter quickly online by 14 December.

If you’d prefer to speak to our team, you can call us on 01628 511 703 from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Good luck!

Dear Robert,

Today is Giving Tuesday, and we have some exciting news to share with you. Thanks to a generous friend, any gift you send today will DOUBLE. That means twice the hope, twice the healing, and twice the lives transformed.

This Giving Tuesday give hope to children just like Marie.

​Marie loved school and was eager to learn. She wanted to become a doctor. However, a severe disability was likely to cut that short. Marie’s legs started to bend backwards, and she developed a painful limp. She could only walk very slowly and awkwardly, and with increasing pain. But then you helped provide the surgery she needed (you can watch her video here LINK). Will you help give the most hope this holiday season with a generous gift today?

None of this would be possible without you — thank you so much for changing lives today!

Hi Robert,

Did you know that every year on Giving Tuesday, charities and people all around the world come together for one common goal? That goal is to support the good causes that mean so much to us all.

This year, Giving Tuesday is taking place on 30 November. You can do whatever you’d like to celebrate and take part, whether that’s volunteering, donating or campaigning for causes you care about the most.

It’s a day to give back by supporting a cause close to your heart. Maybe give back the cost of your shop-bought cup of coffee, or if you’re working remotely, how about maybe the cost of your commute you have saved? Just some ideas to get you going.

You can do whatever you like Robert – just remember to put 30 November in your diary!

You can be part of the change you want to see this #GivingTuesday. We’ll be in touch with ways you can support Amnesty International UK on the day.

Thank you for your ongoing support and everything that you do.

Yours in solidarity,

Eilidh Macpherson
Campaigns Manager – Individuals at Risk
Amnesty International UK

Robert,

I’m writing to you from Lausanne, Switzerland, the morning after Free Tibet and its friends carried out another huge action for the No Beijing 2022 campaign.

This time, we brought our message to the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which continues to back the CCP’s Winter Olympics, despite its atrocious human rights record.

This month saw the IOC sink to a new low – collaborating with the CCP in its attempts to downplay its horrendous treatment of tennis star Peng Shuai, while saying nothing about her allegations of sexual assault by a senior CCP official.

We had to take urgent action.

Yesterday, Tibetan activist Chemi Lhamo and former political prisoner Golog Jigme delivered powerful speeches condemning the IOC’s string of broken promises on human rights and called on governments and Olympic associations to boycott Beijing 2022.

This was followed by a mock funeral for the IOC and the Olympic values it has failed to uphold. Those present proclaimed that the IOC should be buried, while expressing their hope that it may be one day be reborn as something better. The IOC was clearly rattled by our peaceful protest, calling the police who moved us along moments after the mock funeral was held.

The IOC has betrayed Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hongkongers and Chinese, and proven that it can no longer be trusted to do the right thing. It now falls upon governments and Olympic bodies to boycott the Games.

On 10th December, Free Tibet will be handing our petition to boycott the Winter Olympics to the British Olympic Association in London. We have already achieved so much, but now is the time to ramp up the pressure. Please sign our petition so we can say NO to Beijing 2022.

The IOC is no longer fit to defend Olympic values, but associations and governments can still do the right thing and boycott Beijing 2022.

Dear Robert,

Next week is Giving Tuesday! This special day dedicated to charity is an excellent way to kick off the Christmas season by sending hope where it’s needed most.

For more than 40 years, Mercy Ships supporters, volunteers and partners, have worked to bring safe surgical care and medical training to those in need. People like Marie, who desperately needed orthopaedic surgery.

Marie loved school and was eager to learn. She wanted to become a doctor. However, a severe disability was likely to cut that short. Marie’s legs started to bend backwards, and she developed a painful limp. She could only walk very slowly and awkwardly, and with increasing pain. But then you helped provide the surgery she needed (watch her video here).

None of this would be possible without your support. And this year, you can double your impact, at no extra cost to you! Thanks to a generous friend, any donation given this Giving Tuesday will be doubled.

By partnering with us this Giving Tuesday, you can help give the most hope and healing to the many children and adults who have felt burdened and defined by their conditions for so long. The need is great, but we believe that together, we can make a world of difference, one person at a time.

This Giving Tuesday, will you give the most hope to change lives forever?

Thank you so much for your kindness,

Dear Mr McIver,

Get into the festive spirit this December and help make Christmas Wishes come true by joining us for our Christmas Wishes Concert, proudly supported by Royal Canin – 2021’s most heart-warming celebration.

You are in for a treat, as this year the Concert is hosted by presenter and journalist Nicky Campbell, featuring performances from pop legend Heather Small, 2019 Britain’s Got Talent winner Colin Thackery, Brit nominated classical sensation Carly Paoli and CBBC’s Molly Rainford, who was one of Britain’s Got Talent’s youngest ever finalists, as well as Christmas Wishes favourites, twin sopranos Hannah and Naomi Moxon who are Classical Reflection and more!

Get involved by coming along to the live concert at St Mary’s Church, Marylebone, London on Tuesday 14 December or cosy up on the sofa and watch a special recording that will premier online for virtual ticketholders on Tuesday 21 December.

How your ticket could make a difference…

£8 could support a working guide dog partnership for a day
£20 pay for a child to attend one of our Guide Dogs Experience Days
£125 buys a Starter Kit for a new guide dog owner
£237 could buy a child with a vision impairment and iPad to help them with their education
Get your ticket for the live event for £20, or £10 for the virtual event which you can watch at a place and time that suits you, and this Christmas you’ll help us reach even more people with our life-changing services, making Christmas Wishes come true now and for years to come.

Best wishes,
Guide Dogs Events Team

Dear R,

Scotland’s Parliament has started the legal process of closing loopholes in the law to prevent the cruelty of fox hunting from taking place. However, as the Bill progresses, we need your help in ensuring that promises are met, that the new legislation will have the means to really protect foxes from being chased and that the Government do not let needless time pass as Scotland’s ten hunts once again are out there in pursuit.

How you can help:
Allow us to be one signature closer to creating a more compassionate Scotland for foxes by joining over 21,000 likeminded people who have already demonstrated to the Government that the time to really ban fox hunting is now.

Thank you for your support,

Robbie Marsland
Director, League Against Cruel Sports Scotland

PS: Every signature really does make a massive difference. Please forward this email to anyone who wishes to really ban fox hunting here in Scotland.

Dear Robert,

20% of the world’s population could be without water because the Tibetan Plateau is melting. Now you know, will you help?

The Tibetan Plateau is the world’s third-largest source of glacier water and unless we act now two-thirds of that water will be gone, risking the lives of 1.4 billion people across Asia.

For centuries Tibetans have lived off their land, sustaining their families from Tibet’s glaciers. But the climate crisis is hitting Tibet hard and the Tibetan way of life is being washed away. Will you help?

China is plundering Tibet’s natural resources, intensifying the crisis and destroying its ecosystem through industrial projects. Every day, Tibetans risk their lives to protest against the theft of their country’s resources.

We need to give the power back to Tibetans and funding from our monthly donors has enabled huge strides for Tibetan climate justice.

Tibet Water Resources Ltd is a Chinese company that extracts and bottles water from the Tibetan glaciers. In 2017 Liverpool Football Club signed a sponsorship deal with them. The Chinese Communist Party enjoyed much of its profits whilst the people of Tibet remained powerless. Funding from our monthly donors put a stop to this and in 2018, after our campaign, Liverpool FC ceased the sponsorship deal with Tibet Water Resources Ltd.

Tibetans have the right to determine their own future and fight to protect their homeland. Last week Tibetan communities were active in raising awareness and in joining global climate strikes during COP26. We know that the Tibetan climate crisis will not be solved in a day but now is the time to act. Will you join us?
Become a regular donor today
Thank you,