IT seems strange in this day and age to think about the life-saving services around us that rely totally on fundraising.

Two were in action over the weekend side by side.

Woodhead Mountain Rescue Team was called out to save a badly hurt teenager just over the top of Holme Moss on the long drop on the other side of the hill.

The North West Air Ambulance based at Manchester Airport flew in to take the stricken 19-year-old to a Manchester hospital just minutes away by air.

This helicopter receives virtually no cash from the Government, nor does our own Yorkshire Air Ambulance based at Leeds Bradford Airport.

And, to keep to the same theme, Woodhead Mountain Rescue receives no financial help from the Government either.

Yet the helicopters remain in the air and the dedicated mountain rescue teams stay operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

It shows the so-called Big Society has been around a long time.

Prime Minister David Cameron may have coined a catchphrase for himself, but his financial cuts and lack of support for such vital emergency services tell another tale.

The Big Society needs money to make it work.