Award approved by Queen goes to St John member

Beverley Welsh, 51, from Selby, has been given the Order of St John for her contribution to Britain’s leading first aid charity over almost 20 years.

Mrs Welsh, who is the county child and vulnerable adult officer with North Yorkshire and Teesside St John Ambulance, joined the organisation in 1992 after her 11-year-old son, David, slipped into the canal at Selby and drowned.

Mrs Welsh, who has four other sons, said: “My husband, Steve, and I were very privileged to have a big St John presence at David’s funeral and a guard-of honour. David had been a member of the local St John Ambulance Badgers (five to 10-year-olds) and was a serving Selby cadet when he died. When I was asked if I would like to help with the Badgers, I agreed and became a parent helper.”

Mrs Welsh has since taken on leading roles with the charity, and now oversees a training team in North Yorkshire and Teesside. She is also a young first aider trainer, a first aid at work assessor and is qualified to hold residential weekend events for young people.

Her investiture took place in the Order’s 12th century Priory Church in London’s Clerkenwell, and the ceremony marked her exceptional service to the charity. The Order of St John is a Royal Order of Chivalry, and each recipient has to be approved by the Queen.

Mrs Welsh said: “It was a great honour to attend the ceremony in London and to meet the Prior, Rodney Green. It was all carried out with military precision. But it’s good to be back home in Selby. I thoroughly enjoy my involvement with St John Ambulance. It does a very worthwhile job.”

Up to 150,000 people die each year in situations where St John Ambulance has stressed first aid could have given them a chance to live.