COORDINATOR’S ANNUAL REPORT (ALAN NORRIE)
2023
Good evening, everyone and welcome to Ards Peninsula First Responders Annual General Meeting.
On the 09 October Francis Caldwell resigned as Coordinator and as assistant coordinator I stepped into the coordinator’s role, can I take this opportunity to thank Francis for his dedication and tireless work throughout 2023 as Co-ordinator and as a very active responder.
The anniversary for Ards Peninsula First Responders Scheme is the 04 February each year, from going live in 2015 responders have responded to 2650 incidents, tasked by the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.
During 2023, our 17 active responders successfully completed their compulsory annual training undertaken through the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service which included: Infection Control
Basic Life Support
Airway Management
In July 2023 we went out for recruitment and received 13 completed applications, of these 7 completed their induction training with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service. This training was delivered over 2 weekends in September and successfully completed the training. The 7 new recruits went live on the system on 06 October.
As a charity we rely heavily on fundraising and donations, and we would like to thank the following for their generous donations which help to sustain the running of the group
Stoneyfalls Stables Mayor Cllr Mark Brooks Ards & north Down Borough Council Gareth Millar Donations of Funeral Flowers x 3 Cloughey Ladies Probus National Farmers Unions Mutual Insurance Society The Lane Coffee Hut, Ballywalter Carrowdore Community
Throughout the year we also completed many awareness raising events which included
International Women’s Day Fire Box Fun Day, Ballywalter Ballygalget School Fete Carrowdore Presbyterian Church
Bloomfield Shopping Centre Portaferry Men’s Shed
Ards Peninsula Villages Partnership Kite Festival Ballywalter Christmas Festival
In April the group attended the Community Resuscitation Team NIAS conference in the Hilton Hotel which was a great opportunity to listen to several guest speakers and also to get to know teams from other responding groups across the country and share experiences with them.
I would like to take this opportunity again to thank Francis for all his work in 2023 and all the responders for their continued volunteering, attending calls and events also for the support that everyone has given me in my role as coordinator.
We all work together as a team and have the same goal as in saving lives on the Ards Peninsula and look forward to the scheme going from strength to strength in the future.
Alan Norrie 2023