JAMES Bond is back this week in his latest adventure Casino Royale, but he is also helping to raise money for the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

By Tracey Sparling

JAMES Bond is back this week in his latest adventure Casino Royale, but he is also helping to raise money for the East Anglian Air Ambulance. TRACEY SPARLING reports on a night which will bring the glamour of 007 to Ipswich.

A GENUINE Bond girl is to be guest of honour at a special premiere of 007's new film, which aims to raise £20,000 for the Air Ambulance.

Mollie Peters played the seductive Patricia Fearing, who seduced Sean Connery's Bond with only a mink glove in Thunderball.

She was born in near Bury St Edmunds, has returned to Suffolk to live and will be at the event to see how Daniel Craig measures up to “her” Bond Sean Connery.

She said: “Sean was gorgeous - a real man's man but also a gentleman to boot. Daniel looks good. He certainly looks the part for this back to basics adventure but the real proof can only be experienced by watching him in action on the big screen. I am really looking forward to this wonderful evening and helping to raise money for such a worthy cause.”

Car fans will also be keen to see a fleet of top cars such as Aston Martins outside Ipswich Cineworld at the event on Wednesday which organiser Clive Thomas, chairman of the Institute of Directors,

Among the star guests who have accepted invitations to the gala screening are former EastEnders actor Bill Treacher, Bad Girls prisoner warder Helen Fraser and her Oscar-winning husband Peter Handford and former Dad's Army and EastEnders actor Ian Lavender.

The night will start at 6pm with the guests being welcomed into Liquid Nightclub. The club will have a James Bond theme with music from the previous shows as well as dancing girls, a bevy of local girls dressed as Bond girls, look-alike characters and a free Vodka Martini (shaken not stirred).

After the auction and raffle guests will cross the street to Cineworld, to view the array of James Bond-style cars - plus a little something special last seen crashing through the streets of Moscow in Goldeneye.

Guests will enter via a red carpet lined with Army personnel.

After the film there will be an after-show charity casino party, in Liquid. Tickets for this are an additional £20 per person. Send a cheque for £20 per ticket made out to the East Anglian Air Ambulance to 17a Castle Street, Eye, Suffolk, IP23 7AW.

Clive said: “James Bond is a very special screen icon - and we will do him justice at this premiere.”

He also organised a similar fundraising event three years ago for the 20th Bond adventure Die Another Day, and raised thousands of pounds for the airborne emergency service.

He said: “This time around it's going to be bigger and better. We already have a sponsor Hiscox, who have generously given us a substantial sum of money to pay the expenses, so hopefully all the funds we generate on the night will go directly to the East Anglian Air Ambulance."

“Everyone loves Bond, young and old men and women. The films themselves are great fun and are always an event when they are launched. Bond's profile is such that a lot of the work in terms of recognition is already done for us."

One man who is grateful to the East Anglian Air Ambulance for saving his life is Ipswich man Tony Ransome.

Painter and decorator Tony, 56, was flown to Addenbrooke's for emergency surgery after he fell 20 feet from scaffolding inside the New Wolsey.

He said: “It is no exaggeration to say that without the East Anglian Air Ambulance I wouldn't be here today.”

He was laying on his back painting the ceiling with a roller when the accident happened. “I leant over to get some more paint. My neck had started to hurt because of the position I was in. So I went to lay right down and there was nothing there. I went over backwards.

“Although I can't remember much about what happened immediately after the accident I do remember the helicopter flying overhead and someone asking the doctor whether they were taking me to Ipswich Hospital and him saying: 'No, go straight to Cambridge.'

“The rest is a blank because the painkillers started to kick in.

“But if anyone can help them raise money to keep this wonderful ambulance service flying then please give as much as you can.”

Tony suffered a fractured skull, shattered heel and severe bruising in the accident.

He made an amazing recovery and was discharged from hospital after just three days so he could attend his daughter's wedding.

Three months after the accident, the doctors say a full recovery could take a year but he said: “I am not complaining I am just glad I am alive.”

Casino Royale is being promoted as a James Bond prequel - this is the tale where we see Bond get his 007 licence to kill.

Until he receives his super agent status he is just an ordinary intelligence operative living on his nerves, roaming from Venice to the Bahamas, trying to stay alive.

Bond's first 007 mission takes him to Madagascar to spy on terrorist Mollaka (Sebastian Foucan). Following a lead to the Bahamas he encounters Dimitrios (Simon Abkarian) and learns that he is involved with Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) banker to the world's terrorist organisations.

Secret Service intelligence reveals that Le Chiffre is planning to raise money in a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro at Le Casino Royale. M (Judi Dench) assigns 007 to play against him, knowing that if Le Chiffre loses, it will destroy his organisation.

She places Bond under the watchful eye of the beguiling Vesper Lynd (Eva Green).

At first skeptical of what value Vesper can provide, Bond's interest in her deepens as they brave danger together.

The marathon game proceeds with dirty tricks and violence, raising the stakes beyond blood money and reaching a terrifying climax.

It opens at cinemas across the region on November 17.