A VILLAGE flower club has raised a massive £4,000 for the air ambulance after two years of successful fundraising.

Jackie Darch, Ile Valley Flower Club’s chairman, picked the Somerset and Dorset Air Ambulance as the group’s charity of choice, before the group were then offered the chance to hold a flower festival at Forde Abbey.

The event, which was held last September, gave the flower club a £3,500 fundraising boost as they finished with £4,857 raised over the past two years.

Jackie said: “Living in a rural farming community I am aware that when an accident occurs it is vital to get medical attention really quickly.

“It was an added bonus when Forde Abbey invited us to stage a flower festival in their beautiful abbey, allowing us to pick from the gardens.

“This was my first real fundraising event I have planned and it was with the support of the club members that we were able to raise so much. Forde Abbey generously split the profits between the air ambulance and the Rainbow Trust.

“We aim to name our next charity very soon."

Catherine Bacon, the club’s president, said: “I have been involved in small scale fundraising for many years, both through Ile Valley Flower Club and the Inner Wheel Club of Crewkerne, but have never raised as much as this for one charity.

“Through a tremendous amount of planning by club members and friends a superb flower festival was created to be enjoyed over three days last September by hundreds of visitors from as far afield as Germany and Scotland.

“Many smaller events have been organized including a demonstration and cream tea, and I have thoroughly enjoyed being club president during this time.”