dronfield EYE
Our ambulance... or T
The campaign to restore the Dronfield-bought ambulance has reached Parliament... and local folk who raised the money to buy it are calling for either the vehicle or their cash to be returned
HE Chief Commander of St John has been invited to Parliament for a meeting with Dronfield’s MP about the town’s missing
ambulance.
The vehicle, bought by the local community to support the work of the town’s St John volunteers, was recently commandeered by the organisation for duties and contract work elsewhere in the East Midlands. The move has sparked outrage throughout Dronfield - and this magazine has again received many letters and emails from the local community. Now Natascha Engel, MP for NE Derbyshire, is to discuss the matter - along with other serious local concerns - with Mick Messenger, National Commander of St John. Said Natascha: “This ambulance is unique in Derbyshire as being the only ambulance for which every penny was locally raised. I want to know why it has been redeployed. “I want answers from St John about this and how our local volunteers are being treated.” In addition to being the local MP, Natascha is Derbyshire Ambassador for St John. She explained: “I was proud when St John gave me this role and up until now it has been chiefly an honorary position. However, being the organisation’s county Ambassador now assumes an even greater importance for me as we attempt to resolve these issues.”
Dear Dronfield Eye, I HAVE been following letters and articles regarding the Dronfield St John Ambulance for which Coghlans and Barrels and Bottles raised almost 25% of the original purchase price over ten years ago. I am horrified to hear that the money that our customers donated, along with a significant amount of work over an extended period of time, appears to have been for nothing. I cannot understand how a local community can be railroaded by a commercial organisation and, in effect, the parent body appears to have ‘stolen’ the Dronfield Ambulance from the Dronfield community in order to raise funds for its national operation.
Sign our petition
WITH many people asking Dronfield Eye how they can support a campaign to see the Dronfield-bought ambulance reinstated to the town, we are organising a petition which will be presented to the St John hierarchy.
Dear Dronfield Eye, I WANT to add my voice to indignation felt by the residents of Dronfield at the fate of our ambulance which we entrusted to our local St John Ambulance Brigade. Well I remember the enthusiasm with which our town pulled together to to make the purchase possible - not just for the vehicle, but also the garage in which to keep our purchase safe. The fund-raising was to buy our own ambulance and not, as I believe it, to donate the money to The Brigade. I had the privilege many years ago to be Mayoress of our town. The abiding memory was of the incredible work done by volunteers in our community providing entertainment, clubs, events and care for those with disability, the elderly, the young or in some way disadvantaged. It goes on throughout the year, peaking during the festive season when the effort was just incredible - and at most of the events our wonderful local St John Ambulance was reassuringly visible. When it became apparent that the tired old ambulance was not to be replaced by the Brigade (they did not see fit), it was small wonder that everyone rallied to buy our own replacement. Has anyone put a figure on the hours of service it has given our town? The mileage is irrelevant - the ambulance is kept about 200 yards from the town centre where many of its duties take place. Even the park where outdoor activities are held is not a mile away. As far as I can ascertain, since we bought our ambulance, the goalposts have changed. St John took it by stealth and are adding mileage to our vehicle and the equipment we bought for our town's use.
You can sign this at the Dronfield Eye stall at Dronfield Gala in Cliffe Park on Sunday, July 15th, or at the Dronfield Town Council Office in the Civic Hall, Monday to Friday.
I have, in the past, given of my time and money to St John and have considered it a worthy cause. No more, I can assure you! Though I still hold our local workers in the highest regard, I now have the feeling that
The ambulance, which cost around £45,000, was paid for entirely by local donations and fund-raising. Not one penny came from the national body and hence that facility was to be of use only by the local community for its local residents. It is perfectly acceptable and sensible for the ambulance to be diverted for other areas when it can be made available but having directly paid over £11,000 from our business in order to buy the ambulance, I feel exceptionally angry that the local community of my customers is being denied use of its own facility, purely because of the greed of the national arm, which now appears to be very much a commercial business first and charity second.
I would like to know if the national body want to use the Dronfield Ambulance permanently, which appears to be the case, if they would like to buy our community share back. The £11,000 that they return would be put to the start of a new campaign to raise funds for another ambulance facility to be used by the local community for local people and not to be seconded to national contracts use for which the money was not raised in the first place.
I wonder whether other original fund-raisers feel the same
way, in which case St John nationally need to start looking to ways to refund the community so it can have the facility that it bought and paid for Andrew Coghlan, Managing Director, Coghlans Cookery School & Barrels and Bottles Wine Merchants
8 dronfield EYE
the association is run by people more interested in maintaining a prestigious London address than honour and integrity in their dealings with the local branches. Our ambulance back in the condition it was when it was taken or a refund of our money, please! L Wildgoose, Dronfield
Dear Dronfield Eye, I RECALL the many hours spent in service by the members of the Dronfield St John Ambulance to purchase the first ambulance, of which we all felt so proud. I feel I must write to ask that St John ensures us the priority that Dronfield truly deserves when it is in use. My husband, Fred Edwards, was Superintendent of St John Ambulance in Dronfield for several years and it is in his memory that I write.
Congratulations on a splendid magazine. Lilian Edwards, Wokingham, Berkshire
Dear Dronfield Eye, IT is with great amazement that I read the article about Dronfield’s ambulance, and I expect other
readers felt the same. To think such an expensive piece of equipment should lay idle for most of the year, when it could have been used to benefit many people on a daily/weekly basis, amazes me, especially in the current financial climate, when things need to be fully utilised to their best advantage.
I lived in Dronfield for many years and only recently moved to Bradway, but I still spend a lot of time in Dronfield and remember donating to the ambulance appeal. Although it was
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60