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Well done to our cadets!

We are ever so proud of a group of our CCF cadets, who recently showed compassion and quick thinking to assist an elderly gentleman who had fallen over.

Cadets Angel, Heather, Esme and Eve were walking into Barnard Castle town centre from School and heard someone calling for ‘help’.

The pupils turned to find a man who had fallen over behind a stone wall near his house, so the girls quickly crossed the dark road to assist. After assessing the situation, teamwork came into play and the cadets quickly and calmly formulated a plan. They sent two of the group back to School to get help. The four cadets then kept the gentleman warm by offering their jackets and checked that he had no obvious injuries before helping him to stand.

The four cadets all helped him to walk the 20m back to his house and kept rubbing his hands as he was freezing cold. All the time, they reassured him and kept him talking.

When they reached his front door, although the man said he would be fine, the cadets insisted that they help him into his house and sat him down in his kitchen as they were worried about him.

By this time, the two other girls, who had ran back to school for help, appeared with the school nurse, who checked him over before giving him the all clear. As it turns out, the man had been on the ground for 30 minutes in the freezing cold.

The cadets in question have all passed their basic first aid cadre (CCF APC syllabus) and, during lockdown, they all completed an eight-week online St John’s Ambulance first aid course. The four girls commented that they were extremely proud of being able to help the man and believe that their CCF training allowed them to assist in a very calm and confident manor.

For their efforts, the girls were each awarded the National Praiseworthy Action Certificate – well done to all involved.