St John Ambulance Presentation |
Saturday 21st April 2018 |
| On a beautiful sunny April morning the Provincial Grand Master Rt W. Bro Keith Beardmore, Deputy Provincial Grand Master V WBro Geoffrey Lee, Assistant Provincial Grand Master W Bro Giles Berkley and Provincial Secretary W. Bro John Bicknell along with their wives attended the official hand over if the first of the St John Treatment Centres at the Orders HQ in Preston. |
| Rt W. Bro Tony Morris, the Deputy President of the M B F along with Mrs Morris attended as representative of the Mark Benevolent Fund. |
| A good number of Mark Masons and their ladies, as shown on the photographs, also gave great support to the presentation which was attended by the High Sheriff of Lancashire Antony Attard OBE, DL and the Chairman of the Lancashire St John Ambulance Service. |
| The handover of the state of the art treatment centre is part of the MBF £3.5m initiative to supply these units to every Province in the Country. West Lancashire is to receive two due to the size of Province. |
The official dedication was able to be held outdoors with the unit itself in wonderful sunny weather. This was followed by a demonstration by St John Badgers, Cadets and officers of some of the skills in first aid acquired in training ready for use in the community. |
| One of the demonstrations involved the use of a portable defibrillator, a piece of equipment which Mark Masons in West Lancashire are well acquainted. |
| Following the demonstrations Rt W Bro Morris gave a brief overview of the work of the MBF, part of which was the donation of the treatment units which were to replace a similar number of units donated in 2002 and which have now reached the end of their serviceable life. |
| There then followed a light lunch provided by HQ staff with a celebratory cake which was cut by the High Sheriff with his ceremonial sword as it was his birthday that day. Following the dedication, the unit moved on to immediate active service at the Preston North End football game at Deepdale. |
Article by Keith Beardmore and the Photos below courtesy of John Bicknell and John Forster. |
| You can read the letter of thanks below the Photographs or download it as a PDF here |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
