From treating a minor cut to carrying out life saving work, members of St John Cymru dedicate their free time to provide first aid to the public. NATHAN BRIANT finds out more about the group's work.

IF YOU go to a public event in Gwent, it is likely you will see a St John Cymru volunteer.

But it is often easy to overlook what they do until they might be required by someone in need.

One of the organisation’s busiest groups in Gwent is the one in Griffithstown, headed up by its officer in charge (OiC), Dafydd Baldwin.

He has been the OiC for nearly four years at Griffithstown and, like the vast majority of people in the organisation, does it entirely voluntarily.

Mr Baldwin had been a member when he was a boy but went back to it in later life.

In the Griffithstown division there are about 20 people in the adult section, about another 20 people in the cadet section and a further 32 in the badger section.

The badger section is made up of youngsters between the ages of five and 11. The next step is then cadets before members graduate to the adult section at the age of 18.

The badger group in Griffithstown has been run by the same, dedicated head for at least the last two decades, Mr Baldwin said.

Amanda Jolliffe is “very committed to the group” and as the Argus reported in 2009, her daughter Rebecca beat hundreds of others to be named 'badger of the year' in Wales. This was after she entered a written project about her favourite hobby - dancing.

Among achievements the youngest members of the group can work towards is the Super Badger Award. This consists of members completing 12 subjects which can include being an 'active badger', a 'caring badger' and 'healthy badger'.

For the cadets, there is the Grand Prior Award scheme. This consists of 24 subject areas and there is no time limit on how long someone should take on completing the award. Topics can vary from photography and clerical skills to childcare or crafts.

For the Griffithstown cadets, they also have another project to look forward to as they prepare to take part in a UK-wide first aid competition in Gloucester which is being run by St John Ambulance on October 11. This is after the group battled through the regional and national finals earlier this year.

But away from the contest, helping people at public events is what remains the group's “bread and butter”, Mr Baldwin said.

Members cover a whole range of events from the likes of Six Nations games or concerts at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium down to “the smallest of the small”, like small fetes around Torfaen.

But whatever the size of the event, the group has to be prepared for any incident.

Mr Baldwin said: “It could be people falling down or cutting something. You never know what you’re going to get. If it’s a full stadium there could be 75,000 people there.

But he added: “There’s no government funding whatsoever so we operate on private donations. It could be bag packing in the supermarket, fundraising at different events and then money from attending the events.”

None of their services come for free, he said, but everything is to keep the division going.

For Mr Baldwin, being an OiC is something that requires constant time – there’s lots of paperwork to complete and last year he estimates he put in around 960 hours of work.

Another person kept busy is Andrew Mitchell who is the man in charge of all the organisation’s 645 volunteers across Gwent, from children to people of pension age.

Mr Mitchell lives in Malpas in Newport but is responsible for an area that ranges from Monmouth to Bedwas and contains 22 separate divisions.

He has served as the commissioner for the region for about three years and, like others, his association with the organisation runs deep. He joined about 40 years ago after he attended his first meeting with a friend in Bettws and was a regular from then on.

He said: “I do about seven or eight hours a week. That will be visiting divisions, paperwork and meetings.”

The organisation asks for a minimum commitment of a year but volunteers can always do more if they wish.

He reiterated that the organisation covers everything from small events to major fixtures and that for some councils across Gwent it is often the sole provider of care at events.

A recent big event for St John Cymru volunteers was the Nato summit which was held in Newport earlier this month.

During the frantic days before and during the summit, St John Cymru volunteers were stationed to assist the ambulance service at St Woolos and the Royal Gwent hospitals and at Rodney Parade.

The Welsh organisation has about 4,500 members – so the share in Gwent is a healthy one considering its population. It also has the most properties for a region in Wales.

There are also opportunities every so often for volunteers to take their skills outside the country. Mr Mitchell has taken his skills to Zambia on a Welsh Government-supported Wales for Africa trip – in 2007, 2010 and 2011 – and India in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2009.

Among other appeals, the charity’s Save a Life September campaign is running throughout this month and it will be holding free community first aid sessions all around Wales in an attempt to put a first aider on every street.

Last year, the charity trained 18,000 people first aid skills like CPR and this month it is hoped there will be more information availble to people across the country.

For more information on the courses, visit stjohnwales.org.uk/support-us/save-a-life-september and for information on St John Cymru visit sjaw.co.uk.