The scheme was brought to my attention by Peter Withenshaw who is part of our walking football group. Peter had attended this course in 2016 & subsequently a refresher course in 2018. Through Peter we made contact with Mark Simmons who is the senior locality officer for Cheshire West based at Winsford. John Evans, Debbie Cragg, Peter Withenshaw & I met with Mark to find out more about the courses, & to discuss what needed to be done for us to become a Heartstart Training Centre.

2. Heartstart training scheme.

Facilitated by Cheshire West, managed by Mark Simmons, & supported by the British Heart foundation & North West Air ambulance service. We agreed with Mark to run two courses per month at Wincham Park at 7.30pm on a Thursday evening for the foreseeable future. The course lasts about two hours. We plan to train our own people & those of Northwich Victoria first, but we want to make the courses available to the mid Cheshire community. We also plan to have some of our people coached to become trainers themselves.

The course covers:

- Operating an automated external defibrillator (AED).
- Learning how to perform chest compressions and rescue breathing (CPR).
- Helping a conscious casualty.
- Dealing with a suspected heart attack.
- Getting help & using the recovery position.
- Serious bleeding.
- Choking.
- Practical hands on experience available on the day supported by video examples & slides.

3. First course held at Wincham Park on Thursday September 6th.

In attendance were:
John Salmon - Chairman of Witton Albion F.C.
Brian Turner - Chairman of Northwich Victoria F.C.
Terry Murphy - Local councillor, & Witton Albion in the community (Waitc).
Debbie Cragg - Treasurer (Waitc).
John Evans – Witton’s Head steward safety & security, & (Waitc).
Ian Stanley – Witton Steward & (Waitc).
Lewis Stanley – Witton Steward.
Dan Brooks – Witton steward.
Peter Tonge – Northwich Victoria.
Brian Cross – Witton Albion office manager & (Waitc).

The course leader was Helen Thompson from Cheshire West.

The course was a huge success & was enjoyed by all the participants. The course leader, Helen was very professional & explained everything clearly. We all learned a lot & felt that we were better prepared to deal with an emergency should we have to do so. We now look forward to running our next course on Thursday, September 27th & subsequent ones in the months to come.

Regards,

Brian Cross.