One of our sponsors, Tabley Bistro, held a French Evening on 28th January, which was attended by members of the team. Good food, wine and entertainment were enjoyed by all and the sum of £70 was donated to the Knutsford First Responders by the Bistro.
They are holding an evening event for St Patrick's day on 17th March.
We held an awareness event at Booth's supermarket on the 26th and 27th. It was a great success. We raised £620 and 15 people signed up for the HeartStart courses in the first half of 2011.
During the summer we took part in four community events to promote what we do and raise some additional funds.
In May, we had a great time at the Knutsford Street Fayre where we dressed as Victorians in keeping with the Fayre’s Mrs. Gaskell theme.
In July, the Knutsford Fire Station Open Day and St. John’s Wood Fun Day were both excellent events. Our face painting was particularly successful at the Fire Station.
In August, the weather stayed dry and sunny at the Pickmere Summer Fun Day helping to make it an enjoyable and successful event. We are grateful for the donation of £100 from the organisers.
We have also received funds from:
| Fit4Life Fitness Day (held in March) | £2,000.00 |
| Grassroots | £1,548.00 |
| Inner Wheel Club of Knutsford | £232.50 |
Thank you all for your generosity!
We have good news from the Defibrillator Initiative: we have purchased an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) for Bexton Pre-School Nursery and trained members of staff in its use. You can read more details in the Knutsford Guardian.
We have also identified three more places within the community in which to place AEDs so an order is on its way to the British Heart Foundation.
Three new defibrillators have been installed in pubs in Knutsford, bringing the total up to ten. We wish to thank our donors for their generosity.
| LOCATION | DONOR |
| The Lord Eldon, Tatton Street | Knutsford Town Council |
| The Cross Keys, King Street | Sheldon’s Lottery |
| The Angel, King Street | Knutsford Old Folks Club |
On Saturday, 27th March a charity fitness day was held at the Civic Centre. The aim was to promote exercise in the community while raising money for two local charities - Egerton Youth Club and Knutsford First Responders. Exercise classes and challenges, aimed at all ages, ran throughout the day and it was rounded off with a ceilidh and supper.
The event was organised by Linda Marshall and some of her friends as a celebration of twenty years of teaching fitness and dance in Knutsford.
Everyone had fun and it was a tremendous success. The amount of money raised will be determined later in the year. Thank you all.
On Friday 27th and Saturday 28th we held recruitment days at Booths supermarket. These were a great success. As well as gaining 9 potential new First Responders, we signed up 21 people for HeartStart first aid courses and collected £615 in donations. This money will enable us to buy another defibrillator for the area. We would like to thank everyone for their generosity.
The Knutsford Guardian covered the event. You can read their article here.
The campaign to save our service has been successful.
Following a meeting between the Central & Eastern Cheshire Primary Care Trust, North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) and other interested parties, agreement has been reached that will mean the formation of a new higher level of volunteer responder. NWAS has published the following Press Release:
“NWAS is pleased to announce that Knutsford is also in the running to become a pilot for a new increased level of training. Over time it is hoped that many Knutsford responders will take up additional training that will enable them to respond at a higher level and therefore provide even more benefit to their local community. Until the new scheme is finalised and implemented, existing Knutsford CFRs will continue to provide their current level of service."
Kevin Mackway-Jones, Medical Director for NWAS said: “A steering group chaired by the Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT Chief Executive and attended by senior NWAS representatives together with CFR Scheme Co-ordinators and CFR members has been established to set out the future plans of CFR schemes and all other community developments. This has identified Knutsford as a potential pilot area for a greatly enhanced service. It is anticipated that this type of service will greatly benefit local communities and will assist the Trust and its NHS and emergency service partners in their delivery of quality patient care and experience.”
The Knutsford First Responder Trust is delighted with the outcome of the campaign and will work closely with NWAS to ensure that standards do not drop within the Knutsford and other Cheshire areas.
The members of the Trust would like to thank everyone for their support.
It is hoped that support will continue with more volunteers joining to implement the proposed enhanced service.
North West Ambulance Service announced changes to downgrade the service provided by the Knutsford First Responders. We launched a campaign to protect our service.
An anonymous donation of £600 was received. We are truly grateful to the donor. This money has been ear-marked for a new defibrillator.
First Responders held an Awareness Event over 2 days at Booths supermarket, Knutsford. Over £1000 was raised through generous donations by members of the public. Several people signed up for the HeartStart courses.
There will be another Awareness Event at Booths supermarket, Knutsford on 27/28 November 2009.
A defibrillator was installed at the Park Gate Inn, Over Peover. The money had been raised by a sponsored runner in the Tatton Park 10k run and was matched by Barclays Bank plc.
On the 8th June 2007, Knutsford Community First Responder Trust became a registered charity. Our Charity Number is 1119568.