Mountains and milestones reached for Red Funnel’s 2025 Charity of the Year

Isle of Wight ferry operator, Red Funnel, has raised over £30,000 to date for its 2025 Charity of The Year Partner, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance. 

The fundraising milestone comes at an important time for the charity, which looks to raise £3.6 million to support its plans to relocate its airbase to Southampton in a more central part of the community. This move will help improve response times for patients across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, putting the teams within a 10-minute flight time from take-off to almost every patient in the region.

The generosity of Red Funnel customers has played a big part in fundraising for this lifesaving local charity, by donating online while booking their travel and via collection boxes at all terminals and onboard. Red Funnel colleagues have also thrown themselves into a series of fundraising initiatives to raise vital funds for the charity, with six members of the team taking part in the ultimate fitness challenge - The National 3 Peaks, where they climbed three UK mountain peaks in just 24 hours. The two teams; Chris, Mike and Leanne and William, Petros and Jonathan, trained intensely to take on the three summits, covering 3,000 metres of climbing and experiencing all four seasons of weather during the challenge, raising over £3,000.

Red Funnel colleagues, including CEO Fran Collins, also took park in the “Dash in the Dark” 5k fun run on 4th October at The Royal Isle of Wight County Show Ground, as organised by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance. A total £25,000 was raised by all who took part in the event, an amount that could fund seven lifesaving missions in the future. 

Speaking on the impact of Red Funnel’s contribution, Richard Corbett, CEO for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance, said: “From the first moment they visited our airbase, we knew this partnership was going to be special and create an enormous impact. I cannot emphasise enough what a difference working with Red Funnel has made to our service - on our charity team who have loved working alongside the staff and customers of Red Funnel and for our patients and their families who will benefit from Red Funnel's generosity. Thank you to everyone involved for making this partnership such a success.” 
These funds raised by Red Funnel staff and customers are already helping the charity’s expert teams, including doctors, dispatchers, pilots and paramedics, who respond to around seven emergencies every day. In 2024 alone, they were called out nearly 2,500 times, and more than 20,000 times in its 18-year history.

Fran Collins, CEO for Red Funnel, added: “As we begin the final months of our fundraising partnership, I want to say a huge thank you to our colleagues and customers. Every donation and every bit of effort is helping to support the life-saving work of the air ambulance team. It’s a privilege to be part of something that makes such a real difference in our community and I’m immensely proud of our team for going above and beyond to support this incredible cause.”
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance was chosen as Red Funnel’s ‘Charity of the Year’ following a staff and public vote. Since launching its annual programme in 2015, Red Funnel has raised over £400,000 in support of local charitable organisations. 

The Isle of Wight ferry operator remains committed to making a meaningful difference in the communities it serves and continues to run its Charity of the Year programme under its ESG initiative, ‘Changing Tides’. 

To find out more about the Red Funnel’s Charity of the Year partnership, visit: https://www.redfunnel.co.uk/coty2025 or donate at:
https://www.justgiving.com/team/redfunnelpeaks1

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For further information, please contact [email protected] / 02380 382 970

Notes to editors
About Red Funnel
Red Funnel is the original Isle of Wight ferry company with roots tracing back to 1820. Based in the UK port of Southampton, Red Funnel carries 2.3m passengers and over 800,000 vehicles on its ferry route between the UK port of Southampton and East Cowes and 1.1m passengers between Southampton and West Cowes on its Red Jet Hi-Speed service.  

In addition to ferry travel, Red Funnel is the only cross-Solent operator to offer ferry inclusive bonded holiday accommodation, attraction tickets, festival and event tickets and activity packages. Sub-brands include ‘Red Jet’ (the Hi-Speed passenger only ferry service serving West Cowes) and its on board café, ‘ReFuel’.  
The Company is a founding member of Visit Isle of Wight Ltd, the Island’s not for profit destination management organisation. Red Funnel is also proud to sponsor and support most of the Island’s premier events including the IW Festival, Cowes Week, Wight Proms, and Walk the Wight alongside a wide range of other community and niche interest events. 

Red Funnel’s Charity of the Year, 2025, is Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance  

For more information, visit www.redfunnel.co.uk

About Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance is a charity that provides specialist pre-hospital care the most seriously ill and injured people in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight when they need it most. The charity receives no government funding and relies entirely upon the generosity of individuals and organisations to help save lives. It costs £17,500 a day to maintain the life-saving service, with each mission costing £3,500 on average.   

Available both day and night, 365 days a year, the charity’s Critical Care Teams are called out to an average of seven incidents every day, including cardiac arrests, road traffic collisions, falls and assaults. The highly skilled crews of doctors, dispatchers, pilots and paramedics can be at the scene of an incident within minutes, ready to deliver the same level of care that you would expect from a hospital emergency department.  

For more information, visit www.hiowaa.org