A team of five runners are raising funds for the St John Guernsey charity’s youth section by taking part in the forthcoming Mourant relay at this year’s Sure Guernsey Marathon on Sunday 14th April.
Deputies Al Brouard and Heidi Soulsby, who both took part in last year’s relay event, will again don a St John Runners team jersey and are this year being joined by new teammates J.P Nicolle, Tony Manning and Luke Penney. The new teammates are representatives from Utmost International’s Guernsey office and running on behalf of St John as part of a recently formed charity partnership.
Leon Steyn, CEO of Utmost International Guernsey said, “We are proud to announce that we have chosen St John Ambulance Guernsey as our Charity of the Year. This decision underscores our unwavering commitment to supporting causes that resonate with our core values. St John, with its rich history and humanitarian focus, particularly in healthcare and emergency services, aligns perfectly with our business.
In partnering with St John, we aim to make a positive impact on the well-being of our wider community. We look forward to supporting the St John team at numerous events throughout the year including Guernsey Together, The West and North Shows and Seafront Sunday and look forward to welcoming St John Cadets at our Community Fun Day in August. St John offers such a vital service to the island and we hope together, we can create a brighter future.”
The team is hoping to raise £5000 towards the St John youth service which operates a number of programmes including Badgers, Cadets and First-Aid in Schools.
Deputy Al Brouard, President of the States of Guernsey Committee for Health and Social Care, is running this year for the second time and said, “After running for St John in last year’s relay, I was delighted to be asked to join the team again this year. St John has long been an organisation in Guernsey that has supported our island’s healthcare sector. Badgers and Cadets of today can be tomorrow’s ambulance personnel, doctors, nurses and healthcare workers generally, all greatly benefiting and strengthening our community as a whole”
The Mourant Relay Race gets underway from South Esplanade at 9.30am Sunday 14th April.
Donations towards the team’s fundraising can be made by calling in at the St John office in the Rohais, or online via Giving.gg by clicking here You can find out more about the team by clicking here
An Old Elizabethan whose academic achievements at school yielded to his skills and energies as an enthusiastic shot and sportsman, Peter Voute had a distinguished Naval career, including Fleet Air Arm duties and posts, diplomatic assignments including as Naval Attaché in Madrid, besides sea commands and operational service in various areas of confrontation eg Borneo/Indonesia, and which included teaching the King when Prince of Wales to fly helicopters. He retired from active service in 1992 to the no less exacting combats engendered by the UK Government’s assaults on the countryside as a senior executive of the Countryside Alliance. He was one of the organisers of the Countryside Rally, and later the Countryside March, both of which encouraged great support for the retention of traditional countryside pursuits.
On his returning to Guernsey in the early 2000’s, as then Chairman of the St John Council I asked him to become involved with St John, and in particular to review and reorganise its cumbersome and inappropriate voluntary Divisional structure, a project he undertook with characteristic efficiency and precision, and in the result a much leaner and more effective voluntary St John emerged. He succeeded me as Chairman of the St John Council in 2008, and was appointed to the office of Knight Commander on the Bailiwick’s St John activities and undertakings being transferred from the Priory of England and the Islands of the Order to the locally incorporated Commandery in July 2012, in order to give St John in the Bailiwick the independence it deserved as a Crown Dependency. In his dealings to establish the Commandery with the Priory and the Order of St John, he proved a skilled but pragmatic negotiator, and the eventual success of these new arrangements demonstrate the sense and value of his contribution.
Peter married Marta Blad, of the notable Guernsey family, who was a delightful companion, yet a discerning foil. Sadly, due to her illness, he had to step down as Knight Commander sooner than anticipated, but his contribution to the establishment of the Commandery and its subsequent achievements cannot be overemphasised. Peter’s life and career were marked by a sense of duty and discipline, and the maintenance of standards of conduct which he set himself and expected of others; yet he was a thoroughly engaging and interesting, besides modest, gentleman and his ever-courteous manner and characteristic efficiency were hard to match. St John locally owes him much.
Nik van Leuven KStJ.
Posted: March 25, 2024
Over 100 quizzers took part on the evening and were treated to hearty ploughman’s platters whilst battling through the rounds in the closely contested evening of fun. The final victory went to the Office Ninjas team who took first place in the rankings by just 3 points.
The evening raised just over £2,000 which will go directly towards this year’s trip to the National Youth Camp.
The Camp brings together St John youth members from across Europe and is an opportunity for St John Guernsey’s young people to meet and work alongside the wider St John organisation from around the world. It is an invaluable experience that helps develop interpersonal skills such as teamwork, communication, and leadership, whilst also affording the Badgers & Cadets the opportunity to explore new activities such as water sports, archery, climbing and high ropes.
“I’m so pleased to say that Saturday’s quiz night was such a huge success”, said Heather Langlois, Chief Executive of the St John Guernsey charity. “Our training hall was buzzing all evening long and the competitive spirit in the room was palpable! I’d like to thank all of the sponsors who supported our event from food to raffle prizes and everything in between. Their support made for a fantastic evening. I’d also like to thank all of our volunteers and young people who worked so hard to put this event together. They are heart and soul of this organisation and I commend their perseverance, positive attitudes, and unwavering dedication to this organisation and the community we serve”.
St John Guernsey would also like to thank all of the businesses and individuals who gave their time or donated items for the event and to everyone who attended.
Photo credit: Kelsea Bougourd
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
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
James travelled to Nottingham recently, to take part in the next stages of the competition designed to single out the most outstanding St John Ambulance Cadet. Contestants were required to complete a first aid challenge to demonstrate their life saving abilities, take part in a team building exercise, give presentations and be interviewed by judges. After a hotly contested 3 days, the National Cadet of the year role was eventually won by Kyle Dean-Curtis from Barnet.
“Being able to attend the National Cadet of the Year Competition in the UK was one of the greatest privileges I have been given. Over the course of the three days spent in Nottingham, I made friends with many of my fellow District Cadets and memories that will last me a lifetime. It was truly amazing to be able to meet other cadets from around the country who all share the same passion for the St John organisation and the work that we do” said James (17).
James, who is a Senior Cadet with St John Guernsey and helps to run the unit by leading groups of junior cadets, joined the charity after meeting the voluntary event first aid team at a Seafront Sunday and taking a tour of the ambulance. He progressed through the youth programme, first as a Badger, before becoming a cadet. He is currently studying for his biology, computer science, and sociology A levels. In his spare time, he is working towards obtaining his private pilot licence with hopes of going into the aviation industry.
As Cadet of the Year James will represent St John at various high-profile events including the annual Charybdis memorial service & Remembrance Day service.
St John Ambulance Guernsey Chief Executive, Heather Langlois, said: “Congratulations to James for being made the Guernsey Cadet of the Year. The Cadets are really put through their paces in this competition and tested not only on their first aid skills, but also how they benefit their community and James is a very worthy winner of the accolade. We are all extremely proud of him – and indeed of all our youth members”.
St John Cadets is for young people aged 10 to 18-years-old and meetings take place on a Tuesday evening at the St John Ambulance hall at the Rohais. Life-saving skills are at the heart of the cadet programme and there is also the opportunity for young people to use these first aid skills by supporting our adult volunteers at events. Many of the cadets progress on to careers within the healthcare sector.
Anyone interested in joining St John can find out more by getting in touch by email info@stjohn.gg or by telephoning 01481 727129.
The Badgers visited the GSPCA where they learnt about the work of the local animal welfare charity from Steve Byrne.
Liz Johnson first got involved in the youth sections of St John in September 2005 after her own children saw an advert for Badgers and Cadets. When Liz enquired she discovered that there was a shortage of adult helpers and that there was a waiting list which her children would have to join unless St John could recruit more youth leaders. Liz quickly volunteered to help out on a temporary basis, which not only meant her own children could start but the waiting list could also be cleared.
At her final Badger meeting Liz was presented with a card and gift from the Badgers and fellow volunteers.
Liz said: “The thing I will miss the most is the children. It has been heart warming watching the Badgers learning and developing life skills and working up to Cadets and in some cases then moving on to full time careers with the ambulance service or in other areas of healthcare.”
Marcia Bale, St John Community Support Officer said: “Liz has dedicated so many hours to our St John Badgers over the years. She has been ever present and always full of enthusiasm, supporting our young people and helping them develop skills for life. She has had such a positive influence on many young people and she will missed by the young people and by the other leaders.”
Learning first aid with St John has also proved valuable and made a difference to people’s lives as both Liz and her children have put their skills into practice when faced with medical emergencies.
“I am proud to say my own young people have been able to use the first aid skills and knowledge they gained from St John in real life situations,” Liz added.
Although Liz has stood down from her weekly commitment as a Badger leader she has offered to help occasionally when other adult leaders are unavailable. Liz briefly came out of retirement last week to help with the Remembrance Sunday parade.
In 2021 Liz was invested as Members of the Order of St John at the ceremony at the Priory Church of St John in Clerkenwell.
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