On Saturday 9th May members of the Newport Pagnell & Olney First Responders team (James & Jenny) ran 2 AED (defibrillator) and CPR training sessions in Astwood Village Hall.

The sessions attracted a number of members of the community, who were provided with deeply informative guidance on the purpose of CPR (stepping up to provide CPR greatly increases somebody's chance of survival from a cardiac arrest), how to conduct CPR, and also how to bring a defibrillator into service to further increase the patient's chances of survival.

James & Jenny brought great humour to a difficult subject, putting us all at our ease. This wasn't simply a lecture - James brought his real-life experiences to the session, placing context on the importance of having a go. Nor was it a "sit and be spoken at" event - we all had a chance to roll our sleeves up and get the "I've never done this before" bit out of the way in a safe space. We all now have those important songs in our head which help us remember the pace required for effective CPR!

Another training event will be scheduled in due course - many of you have asked to be put on a waiting list, and we may look at an evening event to make it more accessible to the community - please watch the website, and the village WhatsApp for more information.

If nothing else, the sessions proved that you don't need to be an expert - getting a bit of training (each session was less than 90 minutes) means that you might just be in the right place, at the right time, with the right knowledge to save a life - how good would that be?