Rugby charity gig to help the air ambulance

A woman who was rescued by the air ambulance after a head-on car crash is helping to run a charity event in Rugby to raise funds for the service.
The PinkertonsThe Pinkertons
The Pinkertons

Mandy Dahlgren, of Rugby, is a volunteer for the Warwickshire and Northants air ambulance service and helps it raise vital funds to keep it airborne.

She was saved by the helicopter five years ago after being involved in a head-on car crash in Cawston Lane and said: “I owe a lot to this brilliant charity – I am a lucky lady.”

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Mandy used to work in Warwick and car-shared with a work colleague. The crash took place on June 17, 2011, when they were travelling back home and her colleague took a diversion down Cawston Lane which, ironically, they had never used before.

She said a car came round the corner on the wrong side of the road and hit them head-on, leaving them in a roadside ditch.

She was airlifted to University Hospital Coventry with a suspected fractured sternum but “luckily, I was only severely internally bruised”, Mandy explained, and after six months of physiotherapy made a full recover.

“It made me look at life very differently and I took the decision to work part-time for a better quality of life after a near-death experience,” she said, “and since 2012 have been an active volunteer raising money for this wonderful charity which is able to get to accidents quickly, saving lives.”

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Mandy has held charity events in the Rugby area before in aid of the service such as a barn dance at Rugby Thornfield Indoor Bowls Club which raised more than £500, discos, and a cycle ride last year from Rugby to Draycote Water which raised more than £2,000.

And now she is helping friend Pete Storer run his annual live music night in aid of the service. It is taking place on Friday, October 7, at Rugby Railway Club in Hillmorton Road, at 7.30pm.

Pete has been organising the gig for the last 12 years and it has been a very successful event, normally raising between £1,500 and £2,000 for good causes, but was in danger of being lost this year as he did not have anyone to help him put the event on – which is when Mandy stepped in.

This year’s gig, featuring the sounds of the 1960s and 70s, will be headlined by the Pinkertons band with support from groups Red Thunder and Midnite.

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Tickets cost £10 and can be bought in advance from the club or by calling Mandy 0n 07727 839 419 or emailing [email protected].

Mandy is also running a charity barn dance for the air ambulance at Rugby Thornfield Indoor Bowls Club on Saturday, November 12. Tickets cost £5 via the details above.