About Us

The Ambulance Services Benevolent Fund is a registered charity, established in 1986 to help ambulance service
personnel and their dependants from all over the United Kingdom, Ireland, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man in
times of genuine hardship. The Trustees are all unpaid volunteers and they work for the ASBF in their own limited
spare time. Our philosophy is to help people help themselves where ever possible but we always involve claimants in
any decisions that involve outside agencies.

The assistance given to both serving and retired ambulance personnel grows year on year and the Fund has now
become firmly established within the field of ambulance staff welfare. The Fund assists claimants to deal with a
whole variety of distressing circumstances, many arising from the stressful and demanding incidents they have
had to deal with in their careers in the ambulance services.

Because of the growing demands on the ASBF in the 21st Century we need more money so that effective and complete
help can be given. How about making, and keeping, a New Year resolution to make a donation to the ASBF. That way
you will make a real difference to the life of someone whose help you may have to depend upon in the future for
your life. Have a look on the "How You Can Help" Page there are lots of ways in which you can assist us to
"Care for the Carers".

What are grants from the ASBF used for?

The grants made by the fund are used for a host of different purposes but just to give you a slight flavour of the sort
of thing that we are able to help with we have included here some edited extracts from a couple of letters recently
received following help we were able to provide:-

“I would like to personally thank you for the cheque……….. sent to me on behalf of the Benevolent Fund….. 
My wife suffers with Angina and found having to push me around quite stressful……  I purchased a demountable
scooter that fits in the boot of my car ……….So thanks to you my wife has no more worries with having to push me
and also it is so beneficial to me in getting around on my own which was impossible ………..So again my thanks to
both you and the Charities Trustees”

 

"Thank you so much for the cheque for £500 which you sent to me to me to pass on to my mother.....
I took the cheque round to her last Monday 21st December and she was quite overwhelmed with the generosity
of the ASBF. It will make such a difference to her. My Dad thoroughly enjoyed his job as an Ambulance
Driver in the Worcester area and I'm sure he would also be touched by the ASBF and his fellow workers."

Where does our money come from?

Currently many of the donations received are from serving and retired ambulance staff especially through our
‘Give As You Earn’ scheme, local fund raising events. We also receive donations from people who have experienced,
at first hand, the work of the Ambulance services and by legacies which leave a footprint into the future from
someone who has left this life. A number of suppliers to the Ambulance Service also give us great support. Efforts
are regularly made to raise funds from other charitable trusts & foundations. As our funds grow we shall try to build
an endowment fund which will provide a steady stream of income. As we have not yet started to build this sort
of investment fortunately we have not lost any money through the “Credit crunch”, apart from the reduced
interest payable on our small cash reserves.

Our Patron Simon Weston OBE We are extremely grateful to our Patron Simon Weston for supporting the production of the first promotional DVD film for the ASBF. His inspirational introduction and promotional final appeal makes it clear that the Charity is available to all UK ambulance service personnel and their dependents, in times of hardship. It is also obvious that he has tremendous admiration for the skills of the frontline ambulance paramedics, technicians and for all the staff in their various support roles. Simon’s message is clear; the ASBF needs continued funding to supports its work now and for the future. He encourages everyone to contribute by donation, fund raising or sponsorship. Simon suggested that staff should consider deduction from salary schemes such as "Give As You Earn" and/or "Pennies From Heaven". Overall, his message is that the ASBF is ‘Caring for the Carers’ and he appeals to everyone for their support now and for the future. Click below to watch the video

Alan Murray, Former CEO, Wales Alan has always been a staunch supporter of the ASBF and has used the facilities on offer for his own staff on a number of occasions. He believes the ASBF has an essential role within the NHS Ambulance Service by offering support to its staff when falling on hard times and on occasions this has helped people to return back to work more quickly. Alan was delighted when asked to participate in promoting the ASBF with a filmed interview. The Charity relies on funding to operate and he would encourage everyone to help by joining the various donate from salary schemes, by fund raising or by sponsorship. The ASBF thanks Alan Murray for giving his valuable time to help us with our promotional programmes. Click above to watch the video

One of the many achievements of our founder the late Norman Lakin was the creation of the Ambulance Service Memorial at the National Arboretum at Alrewas in Staffordshire. In connection with that a Book of Rememberance was created listing the names of all known members of the Ambulance Services who have died in service. The names inscribed in the Book of Rememberance have now been listed on the Ambulance Service Memorial Web Site by our Secretary Simon Fermor. You can reach that web site by clicking on the image of the Memorial Tablet above.