Wilderness Way announces Great North Air Ambulance Service as 2026 Charity of the Year

Hope starts with the people who show up. This year, we’re proud to be showing up for one of the region’s most vital services.

Wilderness Way is delighted to announce a new partnership with Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS), who have been named our Charity of the Year for 2026.

Kylie Palmer Corporate Relations Manager, GNAAS said: “I would also like to say a huge thank you to everyone at Wilderness Way for choosing GNAAS as your Charity of the Year. As a charity that receives no government funding, every penny raised helps keep our helicopters flying and our critical care teams available to those who are in critical need of care. Your support will genuinely help save lives.

“I feel there is a real alignment between our organisations. Wilderness Way’s commitment to care, compassion, empathy and helping vulnerable young people build brighter futures mirrors the dedication our crews show every day when responding to people experiencing some of the most difficult moments of their lives. Together we’re supporting people through some of life’s greatest challenges and helping create brighter futures.”

Katherine Allwood, Head of HR at Wilderness Way, who has led the Wilderness Way Charity of the Year initiative from the start, said:

“This partnership means such a lot to Wilderness Way, and I’ve loved being part of bringing it to life. We had an incredible 28 nominations from colleagues across the organisation, which really showed how much charity partners like GNAAS mean to our team members. I’m so proud that we’ll be raising money for a service that does such vital, lifesaving work right here in the communities we operate in, and I can’t wait to see what we achieve together this year.”

Why GNAAS

GNAAS delivers lifesaving critical care to some of the most rural and hard-to-reach communities in the North of England, exactly the kind of communities where our own homes are based, across Cumbria, Northumberland and southern Scotland.

While our work is different, the belief underpinning it is the same: that showing up for someone at their hardest moment can change the course of their life.

A shared set of values

This partnership isn’t a coincidence. It reflects values we’ve held for a long time, and ones we’ve recently set out more formally as part of our wider ESG commitments – supporting the communities we work in, and backing the people and services that show up for others when it matters most.

Our Charity of the Year came from our team members themselves: colleagues across the organisation nominated 28 different charities with real meaning to them, before a shortlist of six went to an organisation-wide vote. GNAAS was the clear choice, and it’s easy to see why.

A few facts that show the scale of what GNAAS does every day:

• GNAAS attended 1,998 incidents in 2024/25 alone.
• It costs £9.6 million a year to keep the service running, working out at £25,969 every single day.
• GNAAS covers more than 8,000 square miles across the North East, North Yorkshire, Cumbria and the Isle of Man.
• The charity operates two staffed airbases, at Langwathby near Penrith and Progress House in Eaglescliffe, allowing it to reach both city centres and remote rural locations.
• GNAAS is entirely funded by charitable donations and public support, rather than direct government or NHS funding.

What this partnership means for us

Our target is to raise £5,000 for GNAAS, and Wilderness Way will match our fundraising up to a further £5,000, meaning every pound raised by our team members could be worth double!

Over the coming year, our team members will be taking on fundraising challenges, outdoor adventures and community events in support of GNAAS. GNAAS will be joining us at our next company-wide team briefing in September to share more about their work and what our support will help them achieve, and we’ll be running a pre-loved sale on the day to kick off the fundraising. We’re also exploring a sponsored walk in the Lakes in spring, with support from our Outdoor team, so watch this space for more details.

We’ll be sharing updates on the blog and across our social channels throughout the year as the fundraising gets underway, so keep an eye out for ways to get involved or support the team.

Get involved

Whether you’re a colleague thinking about signing up for a challenge, or a supporter who wants to help us hit our fundraising goals, we’d love you to follow the journey with us.

Find out more about the vital work GNAAS does across the region on their website.