St John's Day marks 120 years of voluntary first aid

Dedicated staff and volunteers at St John Ambulance celebrated St John’s Day on Saturday 23 June and marked 120 years of outstanding voluntary first aid care, reflecting particularly on the successes of 2006.

St John Ambulance representatives from all over the country took part in a parade from Smithfield Market, London to a service in St Paul’s Cathedral to mark the special day.

The London celebrations were echoed by events across the UK as the charity celebrated their achievements over the past year.

The celebrations recognised the endless hours of time and effort that volunteers have given to provide first aid and care to communities, since the uniformed organisation first started 120 years ago. The annual occasion coincides with the publication of figures from 2006 which show how the charity is going from strength to strength.

St John Ambulance Chief Commander, Roger Chatterton, said: 'St John’s Day is a celebration of our work over the last year and we have much to celebrate. In 2006 we saw increases in the number of people being trained and the number of new volunteers joining us. We now have over 45,000 volunteers who helped 137,000 people last year.

'We are growing our presence in every community with successful initiatives like our first aid courses for families and our community first responder scheme. It has been a marvellous year and one that has brought us closer to our vision that no one should suffer for the lack of trained first aiders.'

The charity’s Annual review, published on 23 June, highlights that in 2006:

• 45,000 volunteers gave up 5.7million hours of their time to provide a service to their community on behalf of St John Ambulance;
• 137,000 people were helped by volunteers nationwide;
• 900,000 miles were travelled by St John Ambulance' vehicles.

Interested in joining us? Find out more about volunteering for St John Ambulance.