Air ambulance gift from fans of Llandegley airport sign

Nicholas Whitehead spent £25,000 over 20 years to maintain the sign

It is the mid Wales landmark that began as a joke and lasted for 20 years.

A billboard for Llandegley International delighted - and occasionally baffled - drivers on the A44 between Rhayader and Kington.

But motorists who followed directions to Terminal 1 or 3 end up not at an airport, not even an airfield, but a field on the Powys village's outskirts.

Now, though, Wales Air Ambulance has received a Christmas gift from the fictional airport's supporters.

The sign was taken down last year. The writer who spent £1,500 per year renting the advertising billboard decided he would try to make it an official landmark.

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Nicholas Whitehead launched a crowdfunding campaign with the slogan "Give us a sign!" and fans raised more than enough to make it a permanent fixture.

He said: "We needed £1,300, but with contributions from friends of the airport, we raised £2,000.

"We have donated the extra £700 to Wales Air Ambulance, which we are happy to support given the aviation connection".

The chief executive of the charity, Dr Sue Barnes was thrilled with the unexpected gift.

A crowdfunding campaign was launched with the 'Give us a sign!' slogan

"It's a great example of Welsh humour, but also of the importance of community," she said.

"Patients and families of our lifesaving service will benefit."

The fictional airport has taken off in a big way online. Fans enjoy updates about its impressive environmental credentials, and engage in flights of fancy about the "top secret" Terminal 2.

Mr Whitehead said people's generosity helped him to see a more positive side to social media: "When the sign came down we gained thousands of followers on Facebook.

"There was so much support. I felt sure the crowdfunder would work".

Mr Whitehead was a writer with Radio 4's comedy show Week Ending and Monty Python's Terry Jones, and the idea came from a desire to do "something completely different".

The new sign welcoming visitors - after a fashion - to Llandegley International

"It started off as a wild conversation with friends. We thought of renting a sign for something that wasn't really there, possibly a project that didn't exist, and we settled on the airport."

"I approached Wrexham Signs, who own the billboard, and expected them to say, 'You can't do that.' But apparently, you can!"

A new sign has been installed near the village. The Richards family offered to put it on their farmland along the A44, where it can stay permanently.

'Response has been great'

Holly Richards was keen to help out and said: "We were sad to see it go, so at the first chance of having it back we were happy to put it on our land.

"Since the sign has come back the social media response has been great."

The experience has inspired Mr Whitehead to write the story of the airport.

"It's going to be called The True* History of Llandegley International... with an asterisk," he said. "I'd like to get the manuscript ready in time for the Hay Festival."

"The sign is part of our community," says Holly Richards from Llandegley

Mr Whitehead, a former editor of the Brecon and Radnor Express, keeps the original sign in his garden in Wembury, Devon.

When asked if he thought the airport was real, he said: "It exists in the same way songs exist.

"If you set fire to the scrap of paper on which Paul McCartney wrote Yesterday, that wouldn't destroy the song. The song exists as a shared experience; it's indestructible. It's the same with the airport."

With a permanent sign in place and a big online fanbase, Mr Whitehead hopes to gain official recognition for the quirky institution he founded.

"It's not exactly a national monument.

"But it is a national treasure, which has come to symbolise the season of goodwill."