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Volunteers proved worth

The Newark Division of St John Ambulance is marking the end of a year-long recruitment drive with an exhibition about its work at Newark Library.

All brigade members are volunteers and the organisation as a whole is funded through charitable donations.

The brigade has a long and distinguished history and can trace its origins back more than 900 years when the Order of St John provided care for the sick and injured during the Crusades to the Holy Land.

In its present form, however, the story really begins in 1877 with the formation of the St John Ambulance Association.

Newark divisional training officer Mr Philip Jessop has recently compiled some excellent notes on the history of the brigade in Newark, and has allowed me to make use of them for this week's article.

Following the formation of the national St John Ambulance Association in 1877, the idea was quickly embraced in Newark with first aid classes (for men only) being conducted in the St Mary's parish rooms (Baldertongate) by Dr F. H. Appleby.

By 1884 attendance at Dr Appleby's classes had become so numerous that Newark decided to form its own St John Ambulance Association Centre, followed in 1886 by an Ambulance Corps.

Based at the police station in the town hall, the corps' 48 members had for their equipment only a stretcher and an 'ambulance basket'. Nevertheless, they provided valuable first aid assistance at many incidents. In 1889 a Nursing Guild for ladies from the "upper and middle classes" was formed and by 1892 had 17 members.

The national St John brigade structure, with uniformed volunteers, was introduced in 1887 although, as far as can be ascertained, the Newark town corps and the nursing guild never officially joined.

By the turn of the century activity within the Newark town corps appears to have all but ceased. However, the local St John Association, - the training wing of the organisation - continued to flourish with courses being run regularly for the general public and local bodies such as the borough Police, staff at the local railway stations and local companies such as Holes Brewery.

In 1910 a new Newark St John brigade was formed under the superintendence of local cabinet maker Mr George Reed. With Dr Appleby as president and Captain Stallard as divisional surgeon, the new brigade was officially registered on January 15, 1912, using the old Magnus School on Appletongate as its first HQ.

New uniforms were bought and five months later the first public engagement came at the Newark Show held on Sconce Hills. Even before members arrived, an accident had occurred and a casualty was waiting for treatment.

He was successfully treated by Corporal Trollope (pictured). In 1914 the division augmented its stretcher and 'ambulance basket' with the purchase of a canvas tent for use at open air events.

The tent remained in use for the next 50 years when it was finally sold - and for a profit. On August 2, 1914, with the outbreak of the first world war only days away, the division received a telegram mobilising its members.

By the time war was declared on August 4, 12 members were in service on Royal Navy ships with others joining the army medical services. The local press ran the headline "St John Ambulance men first to go to war".

As wounded soldiers began to return from the front those members who had stayed behind staffed the Newark Emergency Base Hospital and cared for the soldiers in sanatoria set up in local country houses.

The St John role in first aid training was also continued throughout the war, most notably among more than 400 Royal Engineers who were stationed in the town during the conflict.

As the war came to an end the division returned to its peacetime duties, attending Sunday school treats, the Newark Show, sporting matches and local fetes.

During the Twenties and Thirties the division moved several times, eventually establishing the headquarters in premises behind Hennis electrical shop on Appletongate.

The division was now operating Newark's Police Motor Ambulance and from 1919 until the inception of the NHS in 1948 the brigade was solely responsible for emergency ambulance cover in the town.

A typical incident was reported by the Advertiser in 1931 when two buses collided at the Girton/South Clifton crossroads.

The Police ambulance attended with a compliment of three St John personnel; George Reed, his son Harry, and Private Sharpe. With their rudimentary equipment they successfully dealt with 18 casualties, some of who had life threatening injuries.

In 1928 the division admitted its first junior member - and an auspicious new recruit he turned out to be - 11-year-old Samuel Derry, later to become Newark's second world war hero.

Indeed, back in the Thirties, only four years after Sam Derry's induction, the Newark brigade was already turning its attention to war and made the decision to purchase two gas masks.

By 1936 members had been thoroughly trained in gas drill and, as war became increasingly inevitable, they were asked by the local authority to take control of the town's gas cleansing stations.

Further preparations for war included training the town's Civil Defence and ARP services in first aid. At the bombing of Ransome and Marles ball bearing factory on March 7, 1941, members of St John (working as part of the ARP) responded immediately to the crisis, some travelling direct to the scene, others to the nearest designated first aid post (Barnbygate School) and others still to Newark hospital.

It was the division's stiffest test, as it helped deal with more than 30 dead and several hundred wounded. After the war ended, and with George Reed having handed over command to his son, Harry, the division found renewed interest in its work from the business community.

Having learned the value of first aid training during the war, local companies began to require it for their workers - the British Electrical Authority, REME, the GPO, railways, Ransome and Marles, Worthington-Simpsons, Newark Fire Brigade and Police, and even staff of the new National Health Service all received first aid training from the St. John Ambulance in Newark. Next week I will look at the brigade's more recent history in Newark from the Fifties to the present day.

ABOVE: Off to war: five members of the Newark St John Ambulance Brigade leaving Newark by train at the outbreak of the first world war in August 1914 to join frontline military units to provide medical back-up. They are, left to right: Corporal H. Trollope, F. Mattram, W. Brown, Sergeant Harry Reed and G. Cottam.

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