An Ashby man has raised more than £600 from his tour of 24 Air Ambulance stores in the East Midlands.

Martin Cooper - with his mascot Marty - started his 890 mile journey on January 11 in Ashby.

He finished in Bakewell, Derbyshire, and raised awareness for the Air Ambulance charity as well as the funds.

Martin presents his photo to Nottingham Hockey Centre crew

Martin met the University of Nottingham Hockey Centre crew and presented them with the Lifesavers photograph - entered in the Ashby Arts Festival Photography competition - to the store manager Todd Whitsey, and long-standing volunteer of over nine years, Daphne.

The photo is for them to display in the store. 

Martin said: "I'm now signed up as an Air Ambulance volunteer community speaker covering North West Leicestershire and South Derbyshire.

"We've had some interesting bookings so far as part of an Air Ambulance Team.

"We raised over £5,500 for the charity at the Leicestershire and Warwickshire VW Show at Stanford Hall earlier this month - and the Hugglescote and Coalville WI donated £147.53 from a recent presentation Marty and I did for them."

The Air Ambulance's life saving missions are funded by the public's generous donations. The charity does not receive any Government funding.