Midland Air Ambulance landing on Ferney Close

I’d just had my cup of strong coffee and was writing on my computer at my desk when I heard the sudden roar of a very noisy engine, which experience told me would be the sound of a low level helicopter. We get them regularly around her. Sometimes they just fly over en route to some odd place, and even RAF helicopters fly over us, though usually at a somewhat higher elevation. The police used to train staff using helicopters at night to shine lights on the ground, and search for people using night vision equipment. The local police station was a training centre for some years. Now it is virtually empty.

As the noise increased I got up and went to the window just as this chopper passed over and started circling. Within seconds it had turned through around and flown back over the houses in our street towards town. I had my camera nearby so got it out and opened the window. The noise increased again and the chopper flew over us even lower and headed down the valley behind the house towards the main Golden Valley down which the main London road, the railway, river Frome and canal all run very close together, as there is little flat land.

I realised as it came to a halt midair that it was preparing to make a landing, on Ferney Close which is grassy meadow with only a small slope. Almost certainly it was an Air Ambulance  which also appear too often. From its landing spot it would have relatively easy access to the main road, and I’m guessing there had been a road accident. Seconds after I took this picture it dropped out of sight behind the trees in the hedgerow, and then silence returned. It was more than an hour later that its engines fired up again and it rose vertically as far up as the top of the valley sides, and then quickly flew away towards the south-west. All I know is that it was one of the Midland Air Ambulances and I haven’t found any messages about it on local media. Hopefully it was able to help someone.