THE Kent Air Ambulance Trust is to launch a new county-wide lottery game to provide the life-saving service with a regular income.

The trust's new chief executive David Philpott, who transferred from a similar post in Essex, said that one of the successes of the Essex Air Ambulance had been its lottery scheme, which had 20,000 members and brought in more than £1m a year.

Mr Philpott said: "The great advantage of a lottery scheme is that it produces a regular and predictable income.

"At present, much of our income is out of our hands. Businesses, for example, in good years may make corporate donations, but that varies with the business cycle.

"We also receive legacies when people die, but we never know what that will yield.

"Our new lottery scheme will need members to spend as a little as £1 a week. It's such a small amount that they hardly notice, but it adds up to a lot for us."

The trust is recruiting members now, ahead of the first draw on Tuesday, April 7. On offer is a weekly first prize of £500, a second prize of £250, and 10 prizes of £25.

But as an added bonus, everyone signing up for the scheme before April 1 will be entered in a prize draw with the chance to win a new Fiat Panda Activ, donated by Pipers of Maidstone.

The 1.1 litre, five-door saloon car has been voted Car of the Year by the trade journal Autocar and is worth more than £6,295.

Supporters pay just £1 a week for one chance to win, but may buy as many chances as they like.

Mr Philpott said: "There's no limit. It's open to anyone over 16 and chances can be bought by standing order, by cheque or by credit card."

The scheme will be launched officially on Monday (January 19)and will be followed by a promotional campaign on radio stations KM-fm and CTR, with a leaflet distribution throughout Kent over the next 12 weeks through Kent Messenger Group newspapers.

Once the draw gets under way, supporters will be able to check the winning numbers each week in the Kent Messenger's Message Board section. The winners will be selected using a random number generator computer.

Mr Philpott said: "The sky's the limit on this. I think many people have become a little disillusioned with the National Lottery, but I think they will want to enter ours, because they know where the profit is going to.

"It is supporting something they believe in, and perhaps one day they may need it themselves."