A COLEFORD volunteer with the St John Ambulance has marked half a century of coming to the aid of the injured but he has no intention of stepping down just yet.

Robert Lafford joined the volunteer first aiders in 1966 as a 22-year-old “because I had some time on my hands.”

Colleagues at the Coleford division presented Mr Lafford, a former lorry and coach driver, with a clock – 50 years to the day on June 7 that he joined – to mark the milestone.

He said: “I do it because I enjoy it and I’ll carry on while I’m enjoying it.

“The thing that’s changed the most is the equipment, it’s much better today than it was when I first joined.”

Manager of the Coleford unit, Lorna Stanyer, said: “He is a valued member of the the Coleford division of St John Ambulance.

“All our members are volunteers and in Robert’s case this amounts to a huge number of hours that he has put in over the last 50 years.

“Many things have changed in the intervening years – the biggest change has been with the training. We now have new methods in treatments, new equipment such as defibrillators, oxygen therapies and radio communications among other things.

“The members, including Robert, keep up to date with continuous weekly training meetings to keep up their skills and an annual assessment to make sure they are able to give the best possible treatment to casualties at the many and varied public duties we cover over the year.”