A project to facilitate night-time landing for the Devon Air Ambulance has already provided real benefits for those living in the Teignmouth area.

The floodlights at Bitton Park, the home of Teignmouth Rugby Football Club, have been modified so that Devon Air Ambulance can land at the ground during the hours of darkness. A remote switching system has been installed at the ground, which means the lights can be activated by emergency service teams before the arrival of the aircraft.

The funding for the project has been generously donated by the Rotary Club of Teignmouth and the Teignmouth Town Council, as well as from the rugby club. President of the Rotary Club of Teignmouth, Keith Joyce said,

“As a community organisation we were pleased to support this local project. By extending the operational hours of the service it allows the helicopter to access the Teignmouth locality during the night-time.”

Teignmouth Rugby Club Chairman, Russell Sowden, said “As a long-established community sports club we were pleased to be able to respond to the request to make our facilities available for this project. Our pitch had been used previously by the aircraft for day time emergencies but thanks to our generous sponsors the service can now operate until midnight all year round.”

Cllr June Green, Teignmouth Town Mayor added,

“On behalf of the town I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in arranging for this facility to be provided. It is a most valuable asset for our community”.

Devon Air Ambulance have now deployed three times to the night landing site at Teignmouth RFC and Teignmouth will soon benefit from a further extension of the service to 2am. Toby Russell, Community Landing Site Development Officer at Devon Air Ambulance said:

“Its thanks to Teignmouth Rugby Club, Teignmouth Town Council and the local Rotarians that we are able to access the community during the hours of darkness and we are very grateful for their support. We now have 80 night landing sites operational across Devon and as that network expands we expect to be able to reach more and more communities in the Teignbridge area”.

View Our Community landing sites map to see where sites are located around Devon and their status.

A recent gathering of the team involved in the night landing project at Teignmouth RFC (Left to right: Colin Barber (Rotary Club of Teignmouth), Ray Moore (Teignmouth Rugby Football Club), Keith Joyce (RCoT), Toby Russell (Devon Air Ambulance), June Green (Mayor of Teignmouth), Paul Chappell (RCoT), Mike Brown (RCoT), Mike Keith (RCoT).