Displays will include a 4 x 4 off-road vehicle, ambulance equipment, major incident tent and first aid skills. There will also be live demonstrations and a rare opportunity to go aboard the Flying Christine III marine ambulance. The vessel will be alongside in the Victoria marina and the volunteer crew will be on hand to provide guided tours.
The special event will also feature the popular variety of Seafront Sunday stalls, family activities, attractions, food outlets, arts & crafts and market traders.
Heather Langlois, Chief Executive Officer of the St John Ambulance Guernsey charity said: “St John offers so many services in the Bailiwick and many of these operate quietly behind the scenes. This will be a great opportunity to highlight these services and to show islanders all of the great work that the St John organisation does”.
“Seafront Sundays are a great day out for the whole family and this will be a chance for people to enjoy all that the event has to offer as well as find out what St John is all about, to meet our dedicated teams and to see first-hand just what we do”.
Chief Executive Officer of St John Ambulance & Rescue Service, Mark Mapp added: “The Flying Christine III is a purpose built marine ambulance, which has been serving the Bailiwick for nearly 30 years. We are delighted to be able to invite visitors onboard the Flying Christine III to learn more about this essential lifeline service. The Seafront Sunday is also an opportunity for us to say thank you to islanders for their support.”
St John Ambulance has been active in Guernsey since the 1930s, initially with the teaching of first aid courses before evolving in to the St John organisation we know today. Throughout its history, St John Guernsey has served the Bailiwick by delivering care and compassion, reflecting the enduring charitable promise of the worldwide Order of St John to serve humanity.
Today the St John Ambulance Guernsey charity and the St John Ambulance & Rescue service provide the Badgers and Cadets youth programme, adult volunteers, event first aid, a community library, Community First Responders (CFRs), Caring Callers, first aid in schools Volunteer Ambulance Reserve, a Cycle Response Unit (CRU), the ambulance service in Guernsey and Alderney, medical outreach to the whole Bailiwick with the Flying Christine marine ambulance and major incident responses for the islands.
St John Training Services also delivers a wide range of courses as the Bailiwick’s leading provider of first aid training.
The St John Seafront Sunday event takes place on Sunday 24th September from 10am-4pm and further details can be found at www.ambulance.gg/seafront-sunday
St John volunteers from across the world including St John Wales, St John Australia, St John Gibraltar, St John England, joined the St John Guernsey volunteers and staff from St John Ambulance & Rescue, to provide first aid cover over the course of the week-long event. In a number of incidents, 67 patients consisting of both competitors and spectators directly involved with the games were treated.
“Without a doubt, the Guernsey Island Games is the largest event that St John Ambulance Guernsey has covered in recent years. The level of planning was extensive and several years in the making” said Phil Ozanne, Community Operations Manager for the St John charity “I am also very pleased that several of our St John Ambulance colleagues from across the world, gave up their own time to join us in Guernsey and provide their services and skills to complement those of our Guernsey volunteers. There has been a real team spirit across the board and many of our Guernsey volunteers in particular, stepped up to take on additional responsibilities and tasks above and beyond those of their normal duties. I’m immensely proud of all of them”
In preparation for the games, several thousand hours were spent in training sessions and on planning. More than 60 volunteers and members of staff from St John, provided in excess of 1,887 duty hours over 22 separate events. St John provided 8 vehicles, numerous temporary structures, pop-up treatment first-aid posts and several tons of specialist medical equipment. The emergency ambulance service also attended seven cases involving Island Games team members, five of which were at sporting events and two were at team accommodation.
John Hollis, Knight Commander of St John Guernsey said “What a fantastic and friendly Island Games in Guernsey, based on reactions from competitors, visitors and locals alike. Obviously, such events simply cannot take place without the considerable efforts and expertise of St John volunteers and professionals. Just as St John Guernsey provided substantial support a few years ago to Gibraltar when the Island Games took place there, we also benefitted from substantial support from our international colleagues and we give them our heartfelt thanks for it.”
Dean de la Mare Head of Operations for the Emergency Ambulance & Rescue said: “The Island Games was a fantastic week for Guernsey. As part of our preparations for the Games a number of specific response plans were drawn up and additional staff were brought in to provide cover for some of the sporting events. The Games passed without serious incident and I am pleased that our contingency plans were not needed. During this time the service also continued to provide the emergency and urgent pre-hospital care for the island. I would like to thank the crews who were on duty and the St John volunteers, including those who traveled from other countries, who also provided additional support during the week.”
St John Guernsey wishes to sincerly thank all of the volunteers & staff members. We would also like to extend our gratitude to the employers of our volunteers, as many have given our volunteers time off from work, so that they were able to volunteer their time for the games.
St John first aiders will be on duty at the opening and closing ceremonies, the athletics, cycling road races, mountain biking, triathlon, half marathon and some football matches.
For some events additional cover will be delivered by paramedics and other clinicians from the emergency ambulance service.
In order to provide the necessary level of cover for the Games and maintain normal operational resilience, off-duty ambulance staff have been drafted in across the week.
Meanwhile, St John Guernsey volunteers will be joined by volunteers from St John England, St John Wales, St John Gibraltar and St John Australia.
St John Community Operations Manager Phil Ozanne said: “This will be one of the biggest events for St John in recent times, but is it something we have experience of from previous events. The charity has recruited and trained a number of new volunteers who will be on duty alongside some of our longer-serving members who were involved when Guernsey last hosted the Island Games in 2003 and some travelled to Gibraltar for the last event in 2019.
Phil added: “The Island Games is an international community with some 2,700 athletes, officials and supporters from 23 islands from all over the world. St John is one big international family and we are delighted to be welcoming colleagues from England, Wales, Gibraltar and even Australia.”
Head of Operations at St John Ambulance & Rescue Service Dean de la Mare said: “We have been developing our plans for the Island Games over the past couple of years in conjunction with the organising committee and the other emergency services. St John has provided basic first aid training for volunteers and marshals and provided a briefing about the ambulance response to any incidents.”
Dean de la Mare added: “Extra staff have been brought in during the week, because as well as providing medical cover for some of the events, the ambulance service will continue to deliver normal ambulance operations for the island. I would also like to reassure anyone living or working in the areas effected by road closures during the Island Games that access is being maintained for ambulances and other emergency vehicles. We will be in liaison with organisers and marshals to ensure we can respond to urgent and emergency medical cases for people who may need our help during the closures.”
In the most recent cases the Lifeboat responded to Sark for a Category One medical emergency and a traumatic injury in Herm and the Brechou Chief was deployed for an injured patient in Sark.
In total since February the Lifeboat has been dispatched with an ambulance service medical team on board on a total of fourteen occasions, with nine missions to Sark, three to Herm and one to a visiting cruise ship. The majority of cases attended by the Lifeboat were for serious or life-threatening medical conditions.
The Brechou Chief has been deployed to twice to Herm and once to Sark for three less urgent medical cases or transfers.
The Access Challenger has also been used on one occasion for a medical case in Sark.
The relief vessels were made available under existing and previous used contingency plans which were enacted when a mechanical fault was discovered during routine annual maintenance of the Flying Christine III in February.
Stuart Malley, Operations Lead at St John Ambulance & Rescue Service (SJARS) said: “We would like to acknowledge to help and co-operation of the RNLI volunteers and the crews of the Brechou Chief and Access Challenger who have assisted the ambulance service while the Flying Christine is out of service. The Flying Christine is thirty years old next year and was originally built with a thirty year design life. While the vessel is well maintained, the global supply chain crisis has resulted in long delays in obtaining parts from the USA. We have had superb support and service from the local marine industry, but the availability of the parts has been out of our control.”
SJARS Chief Executive Officer, Mark Mapp added: “The fact that there have been eighteen marine ambulance missions so far this year proves the need for a dedicated marine ambulance. We are extremely grateful for the crews of the relief vessels for their ongoing support which has enabled us to continue to provide an essential emergency service for the Bailiwick, however we are aware that in most cases the Flying Christine offers better a overall patient experience and enhanced quality of care, with specially designed clinical area, including a fitted ambulance stretcher and inbuilt medical equipment, which replicates the saloon of a road ambulance. As the Flying Christine III nears her thirtieth birthday, we are evaluating the most cost-effective way of extending her design life with additional built-in resilience which will reduce the challenges associated with the availability of spare parts.”
The marine ambulance was originally built thanks to public donations and sponsorship and was launched in 1994 by the Duke of Gloucester. The vessel is operated by expert volunteers and crewed by professional paramedic-led medical teams from Guernsey’s emergency ambulance service, providing pre-hospital paramedic care and the ability to deliver advanced life support for the islands of the Bailiwick.
Head of Operations at St John Ambulance & Rescue Service Dean de la Mare and Paramedic Nick Peters were part of the Uniformed Civilian Services contingent which lined the streets for Whitehall section of the King’s procession between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey. Dean and Nick were among around 200 members of uniformed civilian services, including fire, police, coastguard, WRVS and prison service who took part in the celebrations. Long serving St John volunteer Alan Stevens also attended the ceremonial events as a street liner on behalf of the St John Ambulance Guernsey charity.
Aimee Lihou, Head of Quality & Patient safety represented the Guernsey ambulance service at the Coronation Service at the Town Church, St Peter Port over the Coronation weekend, while Chief Executive Officer Mark Mapp who was visiting Jersey was invited to attend the island’s official service of thanksgiving with Jersey’s Chief Ambulance Officer. 
The standards of St John Ambulance & Rescue and St John Ambulance Guernsey were also paraded through St Peter Port as part of the military and uniformed parade which took place ahead of a 21 gun salute at Castle Cornet on the morning of the Coronation.
The First Aid in Schools programme has operated since 2008 and delivers a flexible syllabus of First Aid training to all year 5,7 & 8 students across the Bailiwick. Since it began, the scheme has taught life saving skills to thousands of the island’s school children. St John training officer Lorna Higgins-Bare said it was paramount that the course is available to all schools. “We believe that every young person should have the chance to learn first aid, it should be as much a part of growing up as learning the alphabet,” she said. “Learning first aid not only provides young people with important lifesaving skills, but it also helps to build self-esteem and confidence.”
The Guernsey Community Foundation provides support to private charitable trusts who want to award grants but lack the resources, such as time or staff, to do so. Foundation chief executive Jim Roberts explained how the St John charity was able to gain the grant. “In this case, St John applied to the foundation’s own grants programme and we approached a private charitable trust that we work with, as we felt that this would fit perfectly with their objectives.”
The grant of £12,000 will go towards the cost of running the First Aid in Schools programme for 2023, which includes buying bandages, equipment and first aid kits.
The First Aid in Schools programme is run by the St John charity and is funded by donations, grants and sponsorship. Fundraising is already underway for the 2024 programme, which commences in the new school term of September 2023. Anyone interested in supporting the scheme is encouraged to contact the fundraising team on 01481 727129 or by sending an email here
The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem has its roots in a hospice in Jerusalem in the 11th century. Today the international charity provides health care and support in more than forty countries through a dedicated team of around 250,000 volunteers and staff. In addition to being commissioned to provide the Emergency Ambulance Service in Guernsey and Alderney, St John Guernsey’s further charitable services include first aid volunteers, the Flying Christine marine ambulance, the Badger and Cadet youth programme, Community First Responders, Caring Callers, the Community Library and first aid training.
An individual can be admitted to the Order for outstanding service to St John in recognition of achievement, notable or selfless service or inspiration and encouragement to others. There are five Grades of membership Member, Officer, Commander, Knight or Dame and Bailiff or Dame Grand Cross.
“It is a great honour to have been appointed a Commander of the Order of St John” said His Excellency, “The Priory makes a remarkable contribution worldwide and is an essential part of the community in the Bailiwick. The work done by so many volunteers is impressive and I am a great believer in everything that they do. I have thoroughly enjoyed the engagements I have had with them and will continue to do my utmost to support their work here and further afield.”
John Hollis, Knight Commander of St John in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, said “Members of St John in Guernsey are delighted that the support His Excellency Lieutenant General Richard Cripwell provides in visits, encouragement and awards ceremonies for both the emergency services and St John volunteers has been recognised by His Majesty King Charles III in his appointment as Commander in the Venerable Order of St John.”
We have some fantastic women working and volunteering at all levels across the St John organisation in Guernsey, including the Chief Executive Officer of the St John Guernsey charity and members of the Senior Leadership Team at the ambulance service.
In total 45% of our staff and volunteers are women, including paramedics, ambulance clinicians, station officers and as support staff working for the ambulance service. We also have amazing women volunteering as event first aiders, youth leaders, Community First Responders, community library team and Caring Callers. 
International Women’s Day celebrates women’s achievements, forges positive change through open mindsets and inclusive actions around the world. We would to thank all of the women who serve our community, provide care and make a difference when it really matters. 
An engineer will be visiting Guernsey during the second week of February to provide a free upgrade for any IPAD SP1 AEDs with an old version of the software. The emergency ambulance service has offered to assist the manufacturer resolve this issue and the engineer will be based at the ambulance station on the Rohais during the visit.
If you have an IPAD SP1 AED please follow the steps below:
1 – Hold down the “I” button on your device for 2 seconds, or until it beeps.
For example “ Software Version… 1…4…1…0…0…0…1…0…0” – the software in this example is 1.41.
EMAIL Steve.ford@stjohn.gg including your name and contact number and we will be in touch to book an appointment with the UK engineer when they visit Guernsey in February.
Further details can be found on the manufacture’s website https://www.ipad-aed.com/softwareupgrade/
The passing of the Very Reverend Canon Marc Trickey on 7 December 2022 is a cause of great sadness to the Commandery of St John in the Bailiwick of Guernsey.
Father Marc loved his connection with St John and provided thoughtful guidance and support to the organisation, as well as spiritual leadership. He was a great ambassador for the charity and always showed great interest in the work of St John locally, especially in the teaching of first aid and youth work.
Marc was actively involved with St John for more than 40 years. He was appointed to the St John Council for the Bailiwick in 2005 and then the Commandery Board when it was established in 2014. He was appointed a Member of the Order of St John, then styled as a ‘Serving Brother’, in the same year.
During this time Marc not only held the office of Chaplain to the Commandery, but also served as a director on a number of operating company boards, including that of the Commandery itself. He remained a passionate and engaged supporter until very shortly before his health deteriorated.
Previous Knight Commander Andrew Henton said: “Marc will be most remembered for the way that he interacted with and supported both volunteers and professionals working at St John. He was to many a highly trusted confidante with whom fears, concerns or the simple stresses of daily life could be shared. Never judgmental, Marc had the gift of being able to analyse problems or difficulties, and to provide both guiding counsel and reassurance. This no doubt reflected the richness of life experience which he had gained both in the UK and Guernsey, and meant he was always able to inject well-judged humour and levity with a twinkle in his eye.”
“Always modest and self-deprecating, the great respect Marc enjoyed from all quarters was a function of how he acted and behaved on a day to day basis. Values and principles are easy to mouth, but always more difficult to maintain and uphold in the face of distraction and competing priorities. Marc was an exemplar of the values which are held dear by St John, and we benefitted greatly from him diffusing those values amongst our cadets, adult volunteers and professional paramedics. He will be greatly missed.”
Former Knight Commander Nic Van Leuven said: “Marc was gentle but firm; wise without pretention; cheerful yet tolerant; always dignified. Despite the apparent disorder of his study at the Rectory, his was an ordered mind.
“During his Chaplaincy of St John, in all meetings we could rely on his insightful contributions, Marc only speaking when he had something to say – and it was always worth hearing him out. He was a man whose few but thoughtful and well-chosen words made everyone pay attention, because they were worth absorbing and applying. His pastoral contribution was ever practical, never preached.”
“He was wise in an informal and non-judgemental secular way. He wore his faith where appropriate lightly, which is why he could so readily relate to the issues and problems confronting St John and our personnel, especially in their more hazardous, and so stressful, aspects.”
Marc lead the annual church services and ceremonies for St John and one of his last duties as Chaplain was the blessing of the Flying Christine III marine ambulance on the 25th anniversary of its launch.
The flag at the Rohais ambulance headquarters was flown at half-mast as a mark of respect following the announcement of Father Marc’s death.
Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.
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