INTERNATIONAL Rescue has a final mission. The creator of Thunderbirds, Gerry Anderson, is hoping to help with sponsorship of Chiltern and Thames Valley's air ambulance service which needs money to help it continue its life-saving work.

Mr Anderson, 71, heard an appeal for help towards the air ambulance and his wife, Mary, came up with the idea of holding an auction.

"She said that since Thunderbirds was all about rescue we could help," he said.

The grand auction held last month was organised by Marlow and District Chamber of Trade and Commerce and raised more than £1,200, with Thunderbirds memorabilia and Gerry Anderson autographs going thick and fast.

Clearly Thunderbirds is still popular.

Mr Anderson said: "Think of a boy of eight watching it when it first went out in 1964. When it gets shown 20 years later, the boy of eight is now 28 and has his own boy of eight.

"When Thunderbirds comes on, the father says, 'I watched that' and so it becomes a family show."

Mr Anderson said there are probably many reasons why it remains popular: "There is the Tracy family, a bit of love interest with Alan and Tin-Tin, arch villains, The Hood and a bit of comedy with Lady Penelope and Parker.

"It's also got explosions and destruction, which children like, but is all about the preservation of peace which the parents want."

But Mr Anderson said he was surprised Thunderbirds has gone on for nearly 40 years.

He said: "When Thunderbirds was made, repeats had not been invented. The show went out, all 32 episodes and I remember thinking, 'that's it', but Thunderbirds was shown again six months later and I thought that everybody must have seen it."

But Thunderbirds has kept going.

"I did a signing in Harrods," Mr Anderson said. "They boasted that they were the only shop in the country selling Thunderbirds toys.

"Before they opened, people had been sleeping outside the store. When the store opened, they dashed off to buy the toys and Harrods got completely sold out. They'd never seen anything like it."

One of the biggest Thunderbirds phenomena was when Blue Peter made its own Tracy Island and issued a fact sheet.

"They gave out about 100,000," he said. "Then they had to say they simply couldn't send out any more."

Thunderbirds started off quite by accident. Mr Anderson had tried studying architecture but found he was good at making mouldings.

The biggest employer for this was the film industry so Mr Anderson went to the film studios. But his arms became infected which doctors put down to his work.

"So, as I saw it, I had to become a film producer instead," he added.

Mr Anderson then got his break to make Thunderbirds before going on to do Captain Scarlett, three feature films and other projects.

His latest project is a new television series called Eternity, which Mr Anderson is hoping to sell to the Japanese.

But the project most on Mr Anderson's mind now is raising money for the air ambulance.

He said: "A man near here was cutting his lawn with a hover mower when he fell.

"As he was falling he held on to the handle so the blade kept going round and he cut off his toes.

"An air ambulance came over and landed next to him in the garden.

"My message is to businesses to sponsor the helicopter and give money."

Spokesman for the air ambulance team Stevie Horton said money was desperately needed with the helicopter currently grounded on Tuesdays and Wednesdays because of a lack of funding.

It costs around £400,000 year to keep the helicopter in the air and each trip costs about £500.

Mrs Horton said businesses would benefit from advertising and media attention, as well as goodwill coming from sponsoring the helicopter.

If any business wish to sponsor the air ambulance helicopter, ring Mrs Horton on (0118) 936 5612