Each year, I normally attend a service at the local war memorial to remember members of the armed forces who have died in the line of duty. This has usually been in uniform as a member of the Scouts or in the past as a member of St. John Ambulance. Due to the Covid-19 situation […]

I’ve been looking to post on my blog about charities and volunteers for some time, but never got around to finding an interesting angle. Much of this is based on a draft that I started back in 2007, but never got around to posting. The reason I’m posting now is in relation to a story […]

If you have young children then they will love this Pudsey Bear Annual from BBC Children in Need. The annual includes games, puzzles, recipes, crafts, activities and stories. There are plenty of activities varying in difficulty from pre-school to young school aged children. The annual is themed with Pudsey Bear and Blush throughout and includes […]

During first aid awareness week, I thought it may be useful to consider how parents could approach making their children more aware of first aid in the home. In this post I’m assuming a child to parent relationship, but this could equally apply for a guardian, other family members or for friends of the family. […]

Recently I’ve been doing some research on Event Health and Safety. In the past that meant having to buy hard-copy documents from the HSE for the likes of “The Event Safety Guide” (Purple Guide) and The Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (Green Guide). These are now available online which is much easier to view […]

St John Ambulance is currently undergoing a review of their uniform. The new design is currently under consultation and I’m going to refrain from posting what it looks like. For any members that want to have their say you can find a powerpoint presentation including photos on the members website. If you don’t know about […]

Think about the consequences before discarding litter. Today whilst feeding the ducks at our local pond one of the ducks had discarded litter around it’s neck. It was not an immediate risk to this duck and in this case I have notified the RSPCA so hopefully they should be able to remove this before it […]

Back in 2006 I wrote about “An event which made me extremely proud to be a member of St John Ambulance.” This event was the Warwickshire St John Ambulance show. It was great to see members young and old come together on stage to put on a memorable variety show. Tickets are now on sale […]

Following my theme for the last two years I’ve decided to give my annual “Christmas Donation” to another child and baby charity. As my wife is pregnant it seamed appropriate that this year I’ve chosen Tommy’s the baby charity. An charity dedicated to reducing the number of babies dying during pregnancy and birth. This year […]

Today I joined the British Bone Marrow Registry, so that if required I could become a Bone Marrow donor (or donate stem cells). Joining was very straight forward. In fact so simple I’m surprised they don’t ask people when they donate blood. Basically I went along to my usual blood donor session, where I filled […]