A pair of East of England Ambulance staff members - including a student paramedic from March - will take on a 100mph zipline to raise money for the service's mental health charity.

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Chloe Spencer, a senior emergency medical technician, and Ben Hawkins, an emergency dispatcher from Peterborough, have teamed up to raise money for The Ambulance Staff Charity (TASC).

The duo will conquer their fear of heights by travelling 1.5km at 100mph on Zip World’s Velocity 2 zipline at Penrhyn Slate Quarry in North Wales.

Chloe said: “Both of us are recovering from previous mental illness and have partnered up to raise money for something we share a passion about - our green family.

Ely Standard: East of England Ambulance staff members Chloe Spencer and Ben Hawkins will take on a 100mph zipline to raise money for The Ambulance Staff Charity (TASC)East of England Ambulance staff members Chloe Spencer and Ben Hawkins will take on a 100mph zipline to raise money for The Ambulance Staff Charity (TASC) (Image: TASC)

"This is our opportunity to raise as much money as possible to support them either mentally with psychological support, physically through physio or with financial support.

Ben said: “TASC has helped 100s with both their physical and mental health. We are so passionate about making a change and TASC are the charity allowing this to happen.

"So many of our colleagues are feeling the stress of the pandemic and feeling unwell mentally so it’s important they can go to TASC for support so we can continue to help patients who need us.

The team have already raised over £1,600, having beaten their original goal of £800, and are now aiming to raise over £2,000.

This will help TASC to provide an extra 33 hours of counselling or 39 sessions of physiotherapy for people injured in the line of duty.

Jasmin Rana, TASC’s director of income generation and supporter engagement, said: “We’re so grateful that Chloe and Ben are battling their fears and taking on this epic challenge to support our cause and raise vital funds for TASC.

"Ambulance staff have one of the most stressful jobs in the UK, and the continuing and long-term impacts of Covid-19 are making their job that much harder.

"At TASC, we’re seeing demand for our services growing year-on-year and this is rapidly increasing as our lifesaving ambulance staff experience the mental, physical and financial impacts of the pandemic.

"With the support of people like Chloe and Ben, TASC can continue to be there for the UK’s lifesavers when they’re struggling and need a bit of help themselves.”

Donate online via JustGiving: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/chloe-bentasc