Wednesday 20 August 2025: We go to great lengths for our loved ones – from squeezing our partner’s spots, to watching our child’s favourite film 74 times. Some of us have even dressed up as a giant banana or helped throw a birthday party for a pet iguana. But when it comes to learning first aid – something that could actually save a life – many of us are still putting it off.

That’s why health charity St John Ambulance is launching Save a Life September, a nationwide campaign aiming to teach 300,000 people the essential first aid skills to help someone experiencing cardiac arrest, severe bleeding or choking.

The campaign launches as new research* reveals: 

• 84% say they’d do anything for their loved ones yet 42% of people have never taken a first aid course1  

• Just over four in 10 (42%) say they’d feel guilty if they didn’t know how to help a loved one in an emergency. 

• People are almost twice as likely to give up the last piece of chocolate for their loved one (38%) than to learn first aid skills that could save their life (20%).

Throughout September, the charity will encourage people to learn vital first aid skills by attending free volunteer-led demonstrations or workplace first aid training courses or by viewing online videos and advice.

The campaign encourages everyone to take less than 30 minutes to learn how to save a life.

Lisa Sharman, Head of Education at St John Ambulance, said: “People go to extraordinary lengths to show they care. But when it comes to real emergencies, knowing first aid is one of the most powerful ways to show love. It’s simple, quick to learn, and could mean the difference between life and death.”

For children, friends and partners

The research reveals the most popular language for others to show their love is “quality time” – with a third (32%) appreciating having someone’s undivided attention and meaningful time together.  

• More than half of parents (53%) have watched their child’s favourite film repeatedly, a third (33%) have carried their child’s scooter, backpack, and then them to school and nearly a third (31%) of parents have let their child dress them or make them up.

• When it comes to friends, a quarter (25%) of people have pretended to get along with a friend’s new partner when they didn’t like them and nearly the same proportion (24%) has told their friend a white lie about how they looked. Nearly a tenth (9%) admit to spending a fortune on their friend’s hen or stag do.

• For spouses and partners, almost a third (31%) have put up with their partner’s chronic snoring and nearly four in 10 (37%) have spent the day with their in-laws when they didn’t want to. Almost a fifth of people (19%) have squeezed their partner’s spots.

• Nearly one in five (19%) say they would feel like their partner cared about them if they learned first aid.

Some of the more unusual expressions of love include creating a life-size chocolate model of someone, buying a horse for someone, only to discover they were scared of horses, and planning an ex-husband's funeral.

Over half of us (51%) have dropped everything to help someone we care about and over four in 10 (41%) consider learning first aid to save someone’s life in a crisis to be an act of care.

For more information visit: sja.org.uk/save-a-life-september