The team from Barnbrook Systems and Flair, including managing director Andrew Barnett (third right) and finance director Anna Barnett (forth right), present Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance with £2,000 to mark the start of their support for the charity
Global engineering solutions provider Barnbrook Systems has named Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance as its charity of the year.
The Fareham-based firm launched the partnership with a donation of £2,000 and one of its cutting-edge E:BAG fire suppression systems.
Staff from Barnbrook made the presentation during a tour of the lifesaving charity’s helicopter base at Thruxton Airfield, near Andover.
The charity, founded in 2007, faced a 40% increase in deployments in 2024 with its specialist doctors, dispatchers, pilots and paramedics responding to a record 2,544 calls for help – the most in a calendar year.
Barnbrook delivers innovative engineering solutions for clients worldwide in aerospace, defence, maritime, transport and commercial industries.
Andrew Barnett, Barnbrook managing director, said: “Our thanks go to Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance for the opportunity to visit its air base and support the charity.
“As a longstanding local business we are delighted to partner with such a valuable charity which saves lives and makes such a difference to the community.
“From Hampshire, we serve the aviation sector worldwide and understand the complexities and cost of keeping helicopters safely airborne.”
Andrew added: “The air ambulance has also become the first of 11 nationwide to receive one of our E:BAGs.
“This can be used to isolate and extinguish fires in such devices as mobile phones whether at the scene of an incident or carried by a patient in the air.”
Barnbrook, with nearly 50 staff, will raise funds and raise awareness about the air ambulance over the coming year.
It will also present E:BAGS to other air ambulance charities across the country. The bag uses smart nano-technology to put out hard-to-extinguish fires from lithium-ion batteries in such devices as vapes, phones, tablets and laptops.
The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance has a helicopter and a fleet of emergency response cars which provide advanced critical care to sick and injured people 365 days a year.
Chief executive Richard Corbett said: “A huge thank you to everyone at Barnbrook Systems for their dedication to our cause.
“We rely entirely on the generosity and kindness of individuals and organisations in our region to help us save lives – day and night, 365 days a year.
“Working in collaboration with local organisations will ensure we can continue to keep up with the increasing demand for our service.”
Since its first flight in July 2007, the charity has responded to more than 20,000 emergencies across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
It costs about £17,750 a day to keep the charity’s vital services operational.
The charity is running a £3.6m Operation Airbase Appeal to relocate its airbase to a site near Southampton Airport to reduce its response times and reach patients more quickly.
Barnbrook is a regular supporter of charity and good causes, including sponsorship of STEM initiatives across Hampshire and the South.
Visit https://www.hiowaa.org/ for more about the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance and https://barnbrooksystems.com/ for more information about Barnbrook.