THE Exmoor flag team has made its first donation to Devon Air Ambulance from the sale of mugs, stickers and other promotional products.

Edward and Julie Christian, who have been selling Exmoor flag merchandise since it was first unfurled in October, work closely on creative input with Ceri Keene, one of the founding members of the Exmoor Flag Project.

They presented £100 to Caroline Creer, Devon Air Ambulance Trust (DAAT) fundraising director at its Eaglescott airbase near Great Torrington on Wednesday, June 3.

Joined by Duncan the dog, they were given a tour of the air ambulance base and aircraft by flight ops director Ian Payne and paramedics Dave Huyton and Chris Saunders.

The Airbus Eurocopter EC135, one of two helicopters in the DAAT fleet, has the capacity to fly after dark. It currently costs £4.5 million a year to run the air ambulance service, but in order to introduce the longer operating hours a further £1 million per annum will be required.

Julie said: "Whilst the amount is a drop in the ocean compared to what is needed to fund the air ambulance, we believe this is just the start of an ongoing relationship between Exmoor Flag and Devon Air Ambulance Trust."

After its launch, the Exmoor Flag team stated that for each product sold a small contribution would be made to the air ambulance.

This is the first donation from a contribution of sales both via the online shop and wholesale orders from stockists around the region.

Edward said: "Knowing how highly the air ambulance is valued by all the people of Exmoor, it seemed most appropriate to use the new Exmoor flag to help with funding of such an invaluable service as the Devon Air Ambulance."

During 2014, Devon Air Ambulance helped 843 patients, of whom 11 per cent were in places that could not be reached by road. Sixty were across greater Exmoor and 16 in Minehead.

l On Monday (June 15) at 8pm, ITV will be airing the second of Johnny KIngdom's new programme Wild Exmoor featuring the progress of the Exmoor Flag competition and the unveiling of the winning flag.