I joined the St John Ambulance Brigade in 1981/2 as an ambulance cadet at Yardley Village Quadrilateral Division which at that time was based at St Edburghas church hall Yardley with the unit being run by Ken and Yvonne Marland.
Training evenings (I think!) used to be on a Wednesday and I can remember undertaking the two primary practical courses of the 'Essentials Of First Aid', 'Certificate In Home Nursing', sign language plus various elements of parade drill with the other ambulance and nursing cadets.
Upon passing the examination for the first aid certification and induction, I received the uniform and white first aid shoulder bag and was then able to undertake voluntary duties at various locations across the Birmingham area - I can certainly recall being on duty at the first Birmingham Marathon, the Silver Blades Ice Rink, a couple of large exhibition events held at Bingley Hall and a couple of weekend motorcycle scramble type events on farmland somewhere just outside Solihull, I can also remember being up at the headquarters in Lionel Street on a couple of occasions and can recall the garage/parking area with the Bedford CF ambulances parked up.
In August 1982 I also went away for two weeks to the St John Ambulance Birmingham & Sutton Area 60th Anniversary Jubilee Camp at Bethesda Farm, Carlyon Bay, near St Austell in Cornwall, and had a thoroughly enjoyable time - especially as it was the first time i'd been away from home 'on my own' as it were, very much camping as its most basic but have some great memories of that fortnight under canvas - even when it was raining!!
At the camp from the various Divisions covering the Birmingham area, there were 9 ambulance cadets (boys) and about 35-40 nursing cadets (girls), a smaller group of young adults (ages 17-20) plus all the older adult staff personnel, most names escape me now but our tent was myself, Darren W, Brian Gorse, Gerry, Ashley, Andrew, Paul, Andy Secker, and another older lad whose name I can't remember now. I think Andy Secker's parents were also at the camp as they were both SJA officers, from the nursing cadets I can only remember Helen Bayliss and the Marland sisters.
Camp days started at 7.30am with reveille, shortly followed by parading outside the tents for flag break and prayers - unless the central flag pole had been mischievously removed and hidden somewhere during the night which occurred on a couple of occasions! Wash and brush up at the respective wash tents followed via bowls of freezing cold water filled from large plastic dustbins, breakfast in the large main marquee was next - usually thick porridge scooped from a large metal vessel. There then followed tent inspection, where all the tents and contents had to be presented with the side walls rolled up with the inside in an exact tidy, uniform fashion for inspection by the duty officer of the day. The remainder of the morning was spent undertaking various assigned study/test subjects, for week 1 I recall doing camping and fieldcraft and week 2 athletics at a nearby running track. After lunch, you then had a free afternoon to do whatever you wanted to, if you went off camp, you just had to sign in and out of the log book and state where you were going but that was it! I remember going on a couple of trips in the minibus to St Austell, Fowey and Mevagissey and during the second week, everyone went on the coach to Newquay. Most other time we spent in the Carlyon Bay area, down at the Cornwall Coliseum in the amusements, the Wimpy bar or down on the beach with its 'shipwreck'. My mate and I also went on the small narrow gauge railway which went down to Crinnis with its naturist beach - strictly out of bounds of course, but we did have to go and have a look out of natural curiosity! After tea, the evenings were usually spent playing games outside or some other activities in the marquee, which included a camp concert and various sing-a-long sessions and on one occasion, a number of us were also selected to take part in a First Aid competition against the local unit at Par, which I think we won. On the middle Sunday, there was a full camp inspection by the visiting County Commissioner officers with everyone parading in full uniform.
Every cadet was also rostered to do a full day duty in the cookhouse tent, which from my own experience was mostly spent fetching and carrying, plus a never ending task of washing up cooking utensils. Getting into trouble for any sorts of minor infractions meant being put on 'jankers' - which usually meant being tasked to assist with any of the 'worst' jobs ie extra cookhouse duties (peeling veg etc) cleaning, or emptying the latrines - fortunately, despite a couple of close shaves, I'm happy to say I avoided any of that!
Unfortunately I only have a couple of photos (wish I had more to be honest!) - one of myself in uniform and one of the commemorative enamel pin badge we all received after returning from the Jubilee Camp.
Overall, as a youngster, I enjoyed my time as a cadet and can always remember having a great sense of pride whenever I wore the uniform, in a way I wish I'd stayed in for longer but my time with the St John gave me a basic 'grounding' in new skills and responsibilities which was a help as I moved on into teenage years and throughout later life.
