This was the week, This was....9th - 12th May

TUESDAY 9th May

Yet another Bank Holiday Monday resulted in the week beginning a day late again - but this time the Hub did not reopen ready for the community challenge that every day brings.

This was because a while back we applied to the Chippenham Lions for a grant that would enable most of the 'Hubians' to get up to date First Aid qualifications.

Of course this is not a cheap thing to do, but if we are to ensure that staff, trustees, and volunteers are confident to rise to any challenge that comes at No.23 then needs must, and so the Hub was closed for a whole day to achieve this.

Thanks go to the hard-working Lions who paid for this and to the affable lead for the day, Dave from Wiltshire First Aid, who made the day go by so quickly. I must admit that this was not something that I had looked forward to and to be honest I ran out of the excuses that I had formed in my head to avoid taking part - but in the end there was no way out!

It was not an easy course, especially for someone like me who is not as agile I used to be and blessed with a replacement knee that is not as flexible, but at the end of the six hours the task was completed and certificates earned.

This meant that should the occasion arise, we now have the basic information to use a defibrillator together with being able to at least have confident to step forward and offer the basics that will be needed to control a situation until someone qualified comes along.

With so many people in the area of Borough Parade and a busy flow of traffic going to the service yard, we realised during the course of the day that not only could these skills be called on at any tim