Baby Torran's taste for the high life!

Baby Torran celebrated his taste for the high life by paying a first birthday visit to our search and rescue helicopter base in Newquay, Cornwall on 19 August.

Torran who was born on a search and rescue helicopter on 18 Aug last year visited the base with big sister Fearne and proud parents Alicia and Sandy MacDonald to celebrate his first birthday with the people who helped welcome him into the world.

He hit the headlines last year when he was born on board the Coastguard helicopter while it was flying over Penzance en-route to hospital on the mainland. Mum Alicia had gone into labour two weeks earlier than expected while officiating at a friend’s wedding on the Scilly Isles.  
With no available midwife on the islands, HM Coastguard picked up midwife Linda Benson from Trelissick, and flew to the Scillies to collect the family and rush them by helicopter to the mainland.
Mum Alicia said; ‘Torran obviously didn’t want to wait and he made his entrance to the world on board the helicopter. We were safe and well and everyone was absolutely amazing but it was all a bit of a rush. So we wanted to mark Torran’s first birthday in a memorable way and what better than to visit the base and say a proper thanks to the fantastic Coastguard teams, midwife Linda and everyone involved. They’ll always be an important part of our family.’

Torran was safely delivered just before 21:00 at 1,400ft (426m) over Penzance with Yogi Brunner at the controls. The co-pilot was Paul Forbes and the other two crew on board were winch operator Andy Batchelor and winchman Ed Griffiths.
Captain Mark Coupland, Deputy SAR (Search and Rescue) Flight Operations Manager and Chief Pilot for the Newquay Coastguard helicopter said:
‘This really was a rescue of the very best kind and we were delighted to help welcome Torran. It definitely gave all our helicopter teams and everyone at HM Coastguard a big lift! We’ve kept in touch with Alicia and Sandy and we’re absolutely delighted they wanted to come back and see us all. While we don’t expect to get thanks for our 24/7 coastal search and rescue work, it’s really lovely when we do. So we’re all celebrating Torran’s first birthday with special tea and cake.’
Midwife Linda Benson joined Mark Coupland and the crew at the base, including some of the crew from the 18 August flight (Yogi Brunner, Paul Forbes, and Andy Batchelor).


BackgroundTorran was born on the helicopter just before 21:00 BST at 1,400ft (426m) over Penzance on 18 August 2018. The 7lb 9oz (3.4kg) boy arrived with the help of midwife Linda Benson and the helicopter crew. Mum and baby were all fine and left Truro  hospital a day later to return home to their village near Inverness.

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