We are saying goodbye to one of our longest serving members.

At the age of 70 and after 11 years service to the community, Community First Responder Derek Davies is standing down from operational responding.
Derek, a retired IT Business consultant, and keen walker and traveller, first qualified in 2008 having learned of the role when he met some of the volunteer responders at Bransgore’ s annual street collection in the village.

He says, “Being new to the area I had never heard of community first responders and liked what I was told, helping the community and especially that there was no fixed schedule for doing shifts.
I have enjoyed the camaraderie of the group and being able to help so many local people over the past 11 years, but after many thousands of hours on call I have decided to “retire” and concentrate on my other hobbies, walking and travel.”

Group Co-ordinator Mike Jukes BEM said, “ Derek has been a reliable and integral part of the team for over a decade. In addition to his responding, he has played a large part in our publicity and education events held in support of the group and has also been a member of our small sub group who make decisions around the activities of the group. He has raised the profile of community based first responders and what we do, within local community organisations.”
Although no longer getting up out of bed in the night to attend calls, Derek is continuing his association with the Bransgore team as he remains a supporter and helper, assisting at events and collections to promote the work of the team.

And Finally
We were privileged to be present at the 100th Birthday party of Joan Hickman recently. Joan has been a magnificent supporter of our group, so much so that when she unveiled our new Corsa response car in 2015 we named it “Ann” in memory of her daughter, the late Cllr Ann Hickman, who loved this village and did so much for the community. We presented Joan with flowers from the group and a special certificate acknowledging and celebrating her 100 years.

Have a great holiday period. Keep plenty of sun screen handy because we predict a super summer.