St John Ambulance has celebrated 100 years of service in Portland.
On August 18, town residents gathered at the St George's Church on Wide Street to mark this occasion and to dedicate a new Support Vehicle.
The Portland Event Services Unit also received a certificate acknowledging their dedication for a century.
Two of the longest-serving members, Lyndsey Jones and Heather Buttery, were honoured with a Long Service Bar and Long Service Medal respectively.
Ms Jones received the award for 25 years of service.
More than 130 guests were in attendance, including His Majesty's lord lieutenant for Dorset, Angus Cambell, the high sheriff of Dorset, Anthony Woodhouse, and Gerry Hinde, the crown local agent and bailiff of the court leet, Isle and Royal Manor of Portland.
Persevering into the future, St John Ambulance is turning a new chapter by launching a community initiative called the Community First Aid Network (CFAN) across Dorset.
The CFAN aims to reinforce St John Ambulance's presence in communities.
The objectives include providing between 500 and 2,000 hours of event coverage, from local village fetes to larger events around the town.
Another priority is to train up to 2,000 residents in critical life-saving skills such as dealing with choking situations, essential life support, and handling catastrophic bleeding, including the use of automatic external defibrillators.
Achieving these objectives requires raising £2,000 to fund resources such as resuscitation manikins and defibrillator training units.
St John Ambulance encourages everyone’s active participation to reach these monetary targets by the end of the year.
Donations can be made using the QR code below.
Plans for the CFAN initiative include educating students on the dangers of knife crime and how to handle stabbing incidents.
The programme will be delivered by young cadets, and supported by experienced adult volunteers.
St John Ambulance also plans to embed volunteers within the community, where they will be part of their emergency response framework and educate people in life-saving skills.
In addition, the service has announced its Christmas Carol Service is set to take place on December 1 at 2pm at St Mary's Church, 15 Edward Road, Dorchester.
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