They signed up for the first Mid North Coast Golf Day, proudly supported by Elders Real Estate, at Wauchope Country Club on Friday October 18, to raise funds for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service.

"Locals supporting locals keeps us flying as a free service, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year," said Richard Jones, CEO of the service.

"We say a big thank you to Elders, who have been a huge support for a long time. We do a lot of work in the bush, sadly, and fundraising help is vital."

Matt Miller from Elders Real Estate said they were delighted to sponsor such a great cause, especially for people in rural areas who might not get the help they need if it weren't for the service.

"We are pleased with the turn-out. So far, so good. We got a good crowd, considering it's the first year and hopefully it will be even bigger and better next year," he said.

Richard McGovern, coordinator of the Westpac Helicopter Rescue Service said there are three types of mission: primary, which is motor vehicle and farm accidents, secondary which is inter-hospital transfers and thirdly, search and rescue.

"We save more people's lives by doing our inter-hospital transfers," he added.