First-aiders mark 100 years of serving the town

The Newark Division of St John Ambulance marked its 100th year of service with a celebration at its headquarters on Telford Drive on Sunday.

It was 100 years to the day since the service began uniformed operations in the town, on January 15, 1912.

Guests including the Mayor of Newark, Mr Bryan Richardson, and the president of the nursing division of St John Ambulance, Mrs Maureen Dobson, attended and were given a tour of the facilities.

The celebration started with a demonstration of a 1912 attempt to resuscitate a person who had been rescued from a river, which involved rolling them on a beer barrel.

That was then contrasted with the high-tech equipment used by the voluntary service now, including oxygen masks and defibrillators.

There was a talk on the history of the service and what it hopes to achieve as it moves into the next 100 years, before a tour of the building to view the division’s casualty unit and Range Rover fully kitted out with medical equipment.

A raffle to win a Peugeot 107, donated by Pratt and Gelsthorpe of Newark, was also launched as the service makes a big fundraising push.

The division is 90% reliant on money from the public, and is aiming to buy a new casualty unit that alone costs £25,000.

Divisional Superintendent Philip Jessop said: “This is a good chance to get over to people what we do. We wanted to launch the year with some civic leaders, tell them about the work we do and hopefully get some help, particularly in terms of getting more venues.”

Other activities to mark the anniversary year will include an exhibition at Millgate Museum.

Anyone interested in joining the division should call 01636 706464.

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