THE increasingly popular Black Torrington November 5 fireworks display was given an additional reason to sparkle this year, with the official switch on of the Devon Air Ambulance night landing light on the playing fields in the heart of the village.

In a recent survey conducted for updating the parish plan, an outstanding 92% of respondents identified a need for a landing light for the air ambulance helicopter as their greatest priority. This convinced the parish council that this urgently needed addressing on grounds of safety.

Both the parish council and village hall charity contributed towards the cost of the instillation, with the ground works, trenching and erection of the pole being carried out recently by local contractors.

The official switch on was conducted by the former chairman of Black Torrington Parish Council, Peter Roberts, who said: “The completion of the project enables the air ambulance to land during hours of darkness, and will reduce the time to get critically ill patients to hospital, and will undoubtedly save lives as the helicopter has landed in the village on many occasions in recent years.”

The landing light, which is activated remotely by the approaching helicopter using cell phone technology, will benefit not only village residents but the surrounding villages of Highampton and Sheepwash. This was highlighted by Holsworthy Rural District councillor Philip Hackett, who said he had seen a distressing case featured on BBC Spotlight recently, where he had to wait 48 minutes for an ambulance for a friend with no pulse, who sadly died.

Black Torrington has recently secured a grant of £10,000 from Tesco to resurface the MUGA to enable it to be used by the village netball team, as well as tennis players.

Cllr Hackett has gained approval for a grant that will produce a further £30,000 to light the MUGA and enlarge and surface the village hall car park with the building of a new retaining wall.