MARCH MEETING

This month we were regaled with “Tales from a Scotland Yard detective”, Steve, the ex-copper entertained us with some light-hearted anecdotes of his time working within the Metropolitan Police and the many specialist forces that he served in. His career starting in the late 70’s as a bobby on the beat and progressing through to detective within units such as the ‘Flying Squad’ and the Kidnap unit.

The talk was light-hearted and frank, it also gave us an insight into the reality of how policing works. We learnt that it is not always glamourous, and that each day was not like an episode of the ‘Sweeny’ …, though the way he told it … effective policing requires a great deal of patience, diligence, creativity, teamwork, camaraderie and sometimes just plain luck. He also showed us the human side of policing, where bravery at times leaps ahead of the actual thought process and how having to think quickly on your feet sometimes armed with only with words and a handy truncheon can sometimes win the day. The talk was thoroughly entertaining and was enjoyed by all.

Angela’s wonderful raffle took care of our mind body and spirit and we look forward to next month’s offering.

FEBRUARY MEETING

This months meeting fell on Valentines Day and there was plenty of love in the air for our guest speaker from the Kent Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance. Despite the awful weather, we had a great turnout with a buzzing energy to the room. Our guest speaker Myra, a volunteer for the KSS Ambulance Service was engaging and informative. She went on to explain the history of the service, which has been around for 26 years, one of the first of its kind in the UK.

Akin to the RNLI, this amazing service runs independently from government control and relies wholly on charitable donations. The wonderful men and women bring the A&E to the scene, ensuring that each patient is stable, delivering trauma triage on scene – allowing that person to be able to be seen within the “golden hour” at a specialist hospital, in as little as 20 minutes, to hospitals across the south and up as far as London’s St Georges Hospital. Not only are they able to deliver a paramedic and a consultant doctor to the scene, they also carry blood and plasma – they are also the first air ambulance service to operate at night.

The talk helped us understand the depth of innovation and scope in which services like the air ambulance deliver. They truly are “a life-saving charity”. Countless lives have been saved and will be saved so long as these pilots and doctors are able to keep flying. Each year the charity must raise over £7.5m to stay in the air and attend to an average of 2000 incidents. Myra’s talk was truly inspiring and made us all think twice when we hear the sound of the helicopters in the sky, its not just sound of engines and rotary blades, it is the sound of a life being saved, a family being put back together and a future being fulfilled.

For more information on the Kent Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance pop on over to their website and spread the word about these heroes in the sky. www.kssairambulance.org.uk

We also held our raffle which was love inspired, with some yummy gifts – many thanks to Angela for putting it together.