Exploring A Day In The Life of the British Red Cross with Land Rover

30 January 2012

This week Land Rover will be helping to explore A Day In The Life of British Red Cross emergency response teams across the UK.

This week Land Rover will be helping to explore 'A Day In The Life' of British Red Cross emergency response teams across theUK.

Between Monday 30 January - Thursday 2 February, British Red Cross social media manager Jamie Sport, together with a photographer, will travel from South East and up to Norfolk in a Land Rover Defender 110, meeting British Red Cross staff and volunteers, as well as finding out more about the projects they're involved in.

The journey will be live-tweeted and blogged from the project locations across theUK, sharing volunteers' stories. Making the most of social media, the trip will be photographed and the images uploaded onto various social media channels, including Facebook and Twitter. This will help give fans and followers a fuller sense of the work that the British Red Cross do around the country and how Land Rover help them to reach even more vulnerable people in the UK.

Day 1:The team will be visiting the Enfield transport warehouse, where supplies are stocked for UK emergencies and talking to volunteers about how they use their vehicles. They will also shadow an emergency response team inLondonin the event of a callout.

Day 2:The team will visit a Red Cross communications unitand learn first-hand how the high-tech vehicles work and how volunteers coordinate their response during an emergency. The British Red Cross responds to hundreds of UK emergencies every year. Whatever the incident, from major floods and earthquakes to house fires and transport incidents, the British Red Cross works closely with the emergency services and local authorities to support their work. 

Day 3:The team will be visiting the Red Crossdial-a-ride projectinWest Sussex, where volunteers help vulnerable people get to the services they need. The service aims to  improve independence, enabling those in need to keep hospital and medical appointments as well as providing freedom of travel for those with mobility problems.

Day 4:The team will be following a'home from hospital'project inNorfolk. The scheme helps patients leave hospital when their medical and nursing needs have been met. The British Red Cross provides them with emotional and practical support for a period of up to six weeks to help ease the transitional period.

Laura Schwab, Marketing Director for Land Rover UKsaid; "We are constantly looking at ways we can help to support the vital work of the British Red Cross and enabling them to reach even more vulnerable people in the UK.

It's great we can help to highlight the essential work that British Red Cross do around the country via social media, whilst using a Land Rover Defender for the journey to do so."

British Red Cross Director of Fundraising,Mark Astarita, said: "We are really thankful to Land Rover for providing us with transport for this exciting 'Day in the Life' project. The team will be able to see at first hand the varied and vital work British Red Cross volunteers do across the regions."

The collaboration between Land RoverUKand the British Red Cross is part of the major global partnership between Land Rover and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), announced in August 2010. It involves Land Rover supporting national Red Cross societies in 15 countries, with each country adopting a priority programme.

Profiles to follow for updates:

British Red Cross  www.twitter.com/britishredcross

British Red Cross  www.facebook.com/BritishRedCross

British Red Cross  www.flickr.com/photos/britishredcross

Land Rover UK www.twitter.com/landrover_uk

Land Rover UK www.facebook.com/landrover.uk  

Land Rover UK http://blog.landrover.com/   

-  ENDS -

IMAGE CAPTIONS:  

Image 1:Operations officer Gareth Knowles packs his donated Land Rover Discovery 2.7D, with essential first aid equipment inLondon.

Image 2:British Red Cross volunteers responds with their Land Rover Defender 110 Ambulances, to callouts during heavy snow inScotland.

Image 3:A British Red Cross volunteer visits a beneficiary as part of the Care in the Home project.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES:

WaiLo Li    - Land Rover Global Humanitarian & Conservation Partnerships PR Officer     

T: 07557847561         
E: wli@jaguarlandrover.com

Lucy Reynolds -    Land RoverUKPR Manager

T: 01926 649282 / 07801 699928      
E: lreyno25@jaguarlandrover.com

NOTES TO EDITORS:

  • The Global Humanitarian & Conservation Partnerships form part of an integrated approach to sustainability and sit within Land Rovers' Our Planet. (www.landrover.com/ourplanet )
  • The first part of this new initiative involves the funding of 30 life-saving Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) by Land Rover to enhance the capabilities of the UK-based emergency response vehicles, which were donated by the company to the British Red Cross in 2008.
  • In 2011, Land Rover Experience provided 27 driver training places for emergency responders, in preparation for off-road driving in severe weather conditions. In addition, Land Rover provided e-tutorials, off-road driving materials for British Red Cross staff and volunteers.
  • In 2010, Land Rover donated 30 defibrillators to go in the 30 previously-donated vehicles, and loaned vehicles to the British Red Cross over the severe winter weather period, helping them reach vulnerable people in affected areas across the UK.
  • In 2008, as part of Land Rover's 60th Anniversary and the 100th anniversary of the Royal Charter being granted to The British Red Cross by HM King Edward VII, the company donated 60 vehicles to the charity. Half of the vehicles were allocated to projects around the world and the other half were distributed throughout the UK.
  • The global initiative builds upon Land Rover's commitment to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which has seen the company provide £4.5 million in support, since 2007.
  • The global initiative builds upon Land Rover's commitment to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which has seen the company provide £4.5 million in support, since 2007.
  • The global initiative builds upon Land Rover's commitment to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which has seen the company provide £4.5 million in support, since 2007.
  • The global initiative focuses on two extensive Red Cross community programmes inChinaandSierra Leone. Land Rover also provides additional support for Red Cross and Red Crescent programmes in Austria,Australia,Belgium,Brazil,Canada,China,France,Germany,Italy,Netherlands,South Africa,Spain,Switzerland,United Kingdom and theUnited States of America. 
  • Land Rover's association with the International Federation dates back to 1954, when Land Rover supplied a long-wheelbase Series 1 to the British Red Cross for use inDubaias a mobile dispensary.