Huddersfield Examiner 9.04.05

By ANDREW HIRST News Reporter

Elvis and Genghis but no copter!

IIs it a bird, is it a plane? ... It's certainly not the York-shire Air Ambulance!
Unlikely duo Elvis and Mongol marauder Genghis Khan were all set for a photo-shoot with the life-saving helicopter to publicise a fundraising event in Huddersfield.
But it never got to the landing site as it was sent on a mercy mission - to Huddersfield.
Elvis impersonator Craig Simcock will be entertaining at the Temujin Restaurant on Tanyard Road, Milnsbridge, on Monday, April 18, for the fundraising night.
Tickets cost £20, with £10 of that destined for the air ambulance. The helicopter is the restaurant's cho¬sen charity for this year...
Genghis is better known as Dave Johnston, the Temujin owner.
The restaurant specialises in Mongolian wok cooking. This dates back to the time of Genghis Khan (1162-1227), when his war¬riors took a break from the pil¬laging for a fry-up, using their shields as makeshift woks.
Yorkshire Air Ambulance fundraiser Paul Gowland said: "This shows how important the helicopter is.
It was sent out five minutes before the photocall" It had been sent to an injured horse rider in Meltham. In the end she was taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary by road and is "satisfactory".
The air ambulance costs almost £1.5m a year to run, paid entirely by fundraising. It answered 1,000 calls last year and comes to Huddersfield on average once a week.