The publication is the brainchild of Project Wingman Co-Founder & CEO, Captain Emma Henderson MBE.
The 36-page magazine has been designed and edited by Simon Caney and Mark Cureton of Bauer Media. In line with the charity’s aims, the content has a “well-being” theme, with articles on health, travel, sport, lifestyle and gardening.
The magazine is wholly funded by selling advertising pages; 30,000 copies of the magazine will be distributed by Gold Key Media nationally to hospitals, airlines, corporate offices, 5-star hotels, corporate CEOs, Members of Parliament and to members of the House of Lords.
“WingTips” Publisher, airline Captain Richard Bull says; “This project has been an incredible journey of learning for myself and the charity. Thankfully, I have had some tremendous support from the publishing industry in helping to create this very special magazine. I would like to extend special thanks to Simon Caney and Mark Cureton, Barry Field of Alternative Print Solutions and all of the team at Gold Key Media.”
Captain Henderson commented: “Producing and publishing “WingTips” magazine is a project I’m extremely proud of. It’s a terrific magazine and most of all, I really hope that when people read it, they find something within it that benefits their mental health and well-being, even in a small way.”
Founding sponsor and continuous supporter of the charity, Gold Key Media are a specialist distributor of media to the travel sector. When the pandemic began, Gold Key Media sought permission from their publishing clients to donate their publications to the NHS and distribute them via Project Wingman lounges across the UK. So far, says the company, they have sourced and donated over 2.85 million newspapers, magazines and donations to the NHS with an estimated retail value of £8 million.
Project Wingman was set up in April 2020 and is a charity whose mission and vision are to provide ongoing support to the NHS and wider emergency services now and in the future. Their lounges are managed and staffed daily by volunteer air crews and pilots from across the aviation sector. Their ongoing mission is to provide a 1st Class Airport Lounge experience in hospitals across the UK to pamper battle weary NHS staff during their arduous shifts. So far, they have assembled a volunteer workforce of over 5,100 plus aircrew and set up their “Well-being” lounges in over 100 hospitals across the UK. To support hospitals for which physical space is at a premium, this year they launched “Wellbee” a converted double decker bus, that allows them to deliver the well-being service at hospitals across the UK, with further vehicles being acquired and adapted to serve throughout the UK. This service has been hugely popular and beneficial to NHS staff. The success and impact the lounges have had on staff morale has put well-being at the top of senior NHS trust managers agendas, says the charity.
Professor Rob Bor, an original co-founder confirms: “Project Wingman is a unique and practical demonstration of how frontline workers can be supported at a time of considerable professional and personal stress. The relevance of aircrew’s unique skill set is to provide listening and well-being support.”
Keep up-to-date with publishing news: sign up here for InPubWeekly, our free weekly e-newsletter.
