We are delighted to announce that the dedicated team of volunteers who help to maintain and develop a community railway halt on the outskirts of Swanage are supporting our 2ndHeli Appeal, helping us raise the final £1 million needed to bring a second air ambulance helicopter into service for the people of Dorset and Somerset.  

Two large advertising boards have recently been installed at the community halt, raising awareness of our life-saving work and encouraging more people to support the appeal.

Photo credit (above and banner): ANDREW P.M. WRIGHT 

Herston Halt and Swanage Railway support DSAA's 2ndHeli Appeal 

Herston Halt, which was first opened in 1984, is lovingly maintained by generations of volunteers from the Swanage Railway Trust. It serves thousands of visitors each year and has undergone significant improvements over the past 40 years, including a major upgrade from a wooden to a concrete platform in 2009, and ongoing support from volunteers and even working parties from the Royal Corps of Signals.  

Swanage Railway Trust Chair, Frank Roberts said:

The Swanage Railway is delighted to support such a vital and important emergency asset as Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance which, like the Swanage Railway Trust, is a registered charity.

The beautiful Isle of Purbeck – through which the Swanage Railway runs its steam and diesel heritage trains – as well as its dramatic Jurassic Coast are visited by tens of thousands of tourists every year with roads across the area often heavily congested during the summer months. The dedicated volunteers supporting the Herston community halt feel it is very important that they play their part in supporting such an extremely worthy cause as Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.

Frank has been a dedicated Swanage Railway volunteer for more than 40 years and a director of the Swanage Railway Company which operates the heritage trains.

Thank you

With no direct government funding, every mission is funded by people like Frank and the team of wonderful volunteers at Herston Community Halt. Without such support, our service would not exist, thank you for supporting our 2ndHeli Appeal.