Ambulance Contest at Denaby

November 1923

24/11/1923


Ambulance Contest at Denaby

Wath again win the Chambers Shield

Crash! To the rattle of falling bricks and planks, a screen across the Large Hall at Denaby Main fell away and disclosed to a competing team of nine of the St. John Ambulance Brigade a broken scaffolding, and mixed up among the debris were four “casualties”. No instructions were given to the competitors; it was left to the initiative of the team captain to comprehend the situation and to act accordingly.

Such was the novel but devised by the judge the renowned Dr. Beverley, of Worsbro´ Bridge that the words of the examiner after the contest “the men expected a card and did not get it”. Instead, they had to get to the patients whom they found labelled, the first with a sprained ankle only, the second with arterial haemorrhage of the right femoral artery, denoted by a red ribbon on the leg, the third was a case of a broken spine, and the fourth was not breathing. A large board indicated “To Hospital” 100 yards”. And at the farther end of the hall four “beds” were arranged for the reception of the cases.

At the close of the contest Supt. Wilkinson expressed a welcome to Dr. Beverley and to Capt. Buxton, of Sheffield, who had examined the drill. He said it was the first visit of these gentlemen to Denaby, but hoped that they would be seen again. But for the football cup tie there would have been a larger audience.

Dr. Beverley in his remarks stated that it was chiefly the part of the judge to address his remarks to the ambulance men who came to learn. He detailed the test and said the teams were not expected to wait, and when they got to the cases were to do as the handbook told them and use discrimination.


Then he described the “cases”, and the correct methods of tackling them. He said the cases should have taken about ten minutes to deal with, and had they been outside they would probably have been dealt with in the time, but because it was a competition they had they had taken nearly half-an-hour.


Then he went on to describe the oral test, which had consisted in describing the making of a four handed seat, a human stretcher, the examination of the eyes of an unconscious persons, and lastly the hardest question dealing with the different methods of introducing poisons to the system, with examples and outlined five methods. He concluded by saying that on the whole the men knew their work well: it was a new form of competition, they were expecting a card and did not get it. He congratulated them on the work they were doing, which led to nobler and higher instincts in life an admired them for giving up their time for gratitude and the love of the neighbours.

Cpt. Buxton agreed with Dr. Beverley. He advised men never to come on parade in buttoned boots, not to have their belt badges the wrong way up and to have their water bottles filled with fresh water. The marking on the whole had been good; there were no big errors but marks had been lost through little details. His marking system had both to award a maximum and deduct marks for errors.

Ambulance Officer W. Still proposed a vote of thanks to the examiners. He stated that Dr. Beverley had been scathing on some points, but had finished very encouragingly. Criticism was good and when coupled with encouragement it was very good. It had been rather a tough test he could see it had kept the men busy and made them think.

District Officer Severn seconded. He was inclined to express praise for the surprise packet, as all had expected as before, a card and a patient. His advice to the men was to continue the work and not to be surprised in the future.

When the awards were announced it was found that the Wath teams had gained its third successive victory and its fourth in the competition for this shield the result being: 1. Wath (Sgt. J. Ebner). 271 marks: 2. Cadeby (Sgt. L. Stones) 245 marks: 3. Denaby (Sgt Major Moseley), 225 marks: 4. Conisborough (Cpl. G. Townsend), 183 marks.

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