Monmouthshire Building Society has raised more than £10,000 for Wales Air Ambulance, which has been its charity of the year.

All of the Newport-based society’s 144 staff members have taken part in a range of fundraising activities, from sky-dives to grand prix tournaments and raffles to a static cycle tour of the society’s entire branch network, raising £10,110.30 to support Wales Air Ambulance’s emergency air cover provision.

The charity needs to raise £6m every year to operate the service, with each mission on average costing £1,500.

Wales Air Ambulance provides emergency air cover for those individuals facing life-threatening illnesses or injuries, and attends an average of 2,000 incidents each year. It relies entirely on donations to fund their three helicopters based in North, Mid and South Wales.

Prior to the announcement of Wales Air Ambulance as the society’s charity of the year 2015, the society donated £10,000 to the charity for its WAAgon, a first-class events trailer, which helps them to attend fundraising events up and down the country.

It also chose WAA to be an Affinity Instant partner, giving supporters an opportunity to open an Affinity Instant Account in support of the charity to help raise even more vital funds. This special partnership will enable supporters to help raise extra funds for the charity.

Chief executive of MBS Andrew Lewis said: “Wales Air Ambulance is a vitally important initiative which, without support from the public, simply couldn’t exist. As a regional building society, it’s important to actively support our local communities, and fundraising towards the provision of their Wales-wide service has been a privilege for us.

“The addition of so many fun events throughout the year has been welcomed by our staff members, and it’s good to know that their hard work will go at least some way to helping support Wales Air Ambulance’s mission to aid the relief of sickness and injury, and the protection of human life.”

Wales Air Ambulance fundraising manager Mark Stevens said: “It is only thanks to support from the public that we can continue to help those in need, and it was a great honour to be named Monmouthshire Building Society’s charity of the year 2015 and to have their ongoing support throughout the year. I would like to thank each and every staff member for their support which is essential for our lifesaving service to continue.”