Smashing Pumpkin Total For Local Air Ambulance From Mr Pumpkin 2020
On Friday 04th December 2020, Mr Pumpkin donated £3891.75, to the Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance (DLRAA).
Mr Pumpkin presented volunteer Richard Fletcher Volunteer Derbyshire Community Representatives for DLRAA, with the money. They decided they would support the DLRAA in very unique way. Now in its fourth year, On 10th October 2020 they opened their farm for Pumpkin picking and they had lots of fun activities for all the family including a fairground, Pumpkin trail and homemade locally produced food and drinks from Oakfield Farm. This year was a little different to previous years, all activities were thought out to ensure visitors could socially distance and have a safe but enjoyable visit. They planted over 20 different varieties and a total of 36,000 plants, all during the middle of the first national lockdown.
To put that into context, last year they planted 30,000 and had around 4,000 pumpkins leftover and when they planted, they actually had no clue whether they would be able to open or how they could do it. In 2020 they have seen unprecedented demand for pumpkins, Mr Pumpkin explains “I think families had been living under the cloud of Covid-19 for most of the year, and they saw pumpkin picking as a way to come and enjoy some safe family fun in the fresh air”. It was so popular they reached the decision to close the patch early on Wednesday 28th October at 4pm, due to the vast majority of pumpkins having sold out and also a delude of rain forecast. Tickets were being sold in advance to manage customer numbers and protect against the risk of Covid infections. Sadly, this meant that visitors with tickets for Thursday 29th / Friday 30th / Saturday 31st October 2020 were unable to come and pick. Mr Pumpkin gave all visitors two options which was a refund or Mr Pumpkin will donate all refunded ticket revenue to Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance (DLRAA).
Mr Pumpkin said: May I take this opportunity to thank all those lovely visitors who have supported us over the season, and hope to see many familiar faces again, in a healthy 2021. We have had generous donations to our partner charity and thank our Mr Pumpkin community and Morrison’s Derby for all their amazing support. Wishing you all the very best of health in the future “Please keep an eye out for our posters from Mid - October next year and we are growing even more pumpkins next year”. Richard said: “We were delighted to be presented with the money from Mr Pumpkin.
DLRAA relies entirely on donations from members of the public as it receives no Government or National Lottery funding, therefore support from Mr Pumpkin really is invaluable and goes a long way to helping to keep our lifesaving service flying and saving lives.” We would like to thank all the visitors and customers for the generosity and fantastic support they have given. DLRAA was formed in 2008 and has carried out more than 18,000 Rescue missions and saved many lives in the process, each rescue mission costing on average £1,700 with DLRAA completing on average 5-6 missions every single day, 365 days a year In the Picture Mr Pumpkin
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