AROUND a dozen members of the local community attended Bulwark Community Centre on Tuesday, September 30 for an evening of basic first aid training.

The evening was led by the Chepstow and Caldicot division of St John Ambulance Cymru, who invited residents to learn or reaffirm knowledge of life-saving skills in situations such as bleeding and choking, along with the fundamentals of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and how an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) operates.

It came as part of a larger campaign which St John Ambulance Cymru runs every year known as ‘Save a Life September’.

Tanya Davies, Divisional Member in Charge for the Chepstow-Caldicot Division of St John Ambulance Cymru said: “This type of class provides people some first aid knowledge who may or may not need to put that into use, but get a little bit more confidence if they do need to. We know this from courses we’ve run in the past where people have provided feedback, saying they’ve had to perform CPR, thanked us for the course and the confidence they needed to at least have a go and potentially save someone’s life.”

For around two hours from 7pm, attendees listened to trainers Dyfri and Jan Williams as they provided an informative and comprehensive talk, inviting questions about first aid, and even allowing locals to get involved with practical demonstrations in real-life scenarios. Participants, with volunteers from St John Ambulance Cymru, used props such as Anne dolls to put their knowledge to the test.

St John Ambulance Cymru also runs other community classes throughout the year, including a defibrillator course coming up in February, and it urges residents to get involved as much as possible.

You can find out more information about the charity by visiting its website, following its social media pages or by calling 0300 2011 999.