Barcud Group’s Director of People and Insights will jump out of a plane later this month to help raise funds for the housing association’s charity of the year – Wales Air Ambulance!
On Sunday, 27 September, Deina Hockenhull, will be taking to the skies over Gower to do her first ever skydive, which was a special gift from her three sons for her recent 50th birthday.
Deina said, “As I’m mad enough to do the skydive I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to raise funds for Barcud’s charity for this year, the Wales Air Ambulance. If you see me looking a little nervous any time between now and the skydive it’s because I’ve never done anything like this before! I’d be really grateful for any donations made towards this vital charity. Living in a very rural area of Ceredigion I know first hand how important it is to maintain this service.”
Deina joined Barcud in 2024 and in her role as Group Director of People and Insights she is helping to develop an insight-driven strategy to strengthen tenant engagement and service delivery. A fluent Welsh speaker born and raised in Ceredigion, she understands the Barcud area well and is actively involved in local volunteering and community groups.
Barcud is based in mid and west Wales with a 300 strong workforce and 4,500 tenants. This is the group’s first year of fundraising for a specific charity and at the annual colleague conference last winter the majority were in favour of supporting a charity, that, like Barcud, helped and supported those living rurally.
With a widely-scattered population and diverse landscape, many in Wales live in isolated locations, far from a major or specialist hospital. In urban areas, traffic congestion and collisions can significantly delay treatment when in a road ambulance. For these reasons, there is a recognised need for Wales Air Ambulance’s four helicopters to be on active duty 365 days a year. The charity needs to raise £13 million every year to operate the service and it has to raise all the funds required for the day-to-day running of the service’s vehicles and bases. Each mission costs around £3,545, and the teams have flown over 57,000 missions across Wales since 2001.
Emma Grant, Public Affairs Lead for Wales Air Ambulance said, “Wales Air Ambulance is funded by the people of Wales; we rely entirely on the public’s support to help keep the helicopters flying and the rapid response vehicles on the road. Every penny of the £13 million needed every year is raised through charitable donations, fundraising events, legacies, our shops, and membership of our in-house Lifesaving Lottery. We are grateful to Deina and the Barcud group for choosing to support us – you are all lifesavers.”
Any donations to support Deina, and Barcud reach its fundraising target of £5,000 would be very gratefully received. Click here to support Deina online: https://www.justgiving.com/page/deina-hockenhull-1
