THE Lord Lieutenant of Somerset Annie Maw has told of the day her life was probably saved by air ambulance staff.

Mrs Maw was left needing to use a wheelchair following an incident 16 years ago, but she claims it could have been far worse had it not been for the arrival of the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.

She said: “It was my absolute pleasure to be part of the judging panel which selected the name for our air ambulance.

She said: "I was rescued from a fog-bound Mendip and on that day the air ambulance team found me by locating the cathedral in Wells, then following St Thomas Street out of town and up to the top of the hills where they hovered very low in search for me.

"We were miles away, in the middle of inaccessible fields. Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance seemed to descend down in a shaft of sunshine.

"It was miraculous and something which I will never forget.

"It’s very possible that the team that day saved my life as I was getting pretty ill.

Somerset County Gazette:

"Even if they didn’t prevent me from actually dying, they certainly protected me from having a higher level of paralysis by the way they moved me onto the stretcher and into the helicopter.

"If it hadn’t been done by someone as experienced and capable as they were, more of my spinal cord would have been damaged and I might have ended up unable to use my arms and hands.

"I will always be undyingly grateful and it is my absolute pleasure to be one of the charity’s patrons."

Mrs Maw was speaking after it was revealed that the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance's AW169 helicopter has been named Pegasus following a competition that received nearly 1,000 entries.

The name was proposed by four entrants, who will all be invited to a formal naming ceremony in January.

Mrs Maw, who helped judge the competition, added: "Pegasus is a remarkable aircraft, which I know will help the team to do remarkable things."