Under the Blue Lights: My Service with the Norfolk Ambulance Service at Lowestoft Ambulance Station (1974–1979)

By David Sheldrake

I joined the Essex Ambulance Service on 21 April 1981 at the tender age of twenty-one. I underwent training at Witham and in the first year completed the driver training and ambulance aid training, both of which were conducted at Markfield in Leicestershire. When all this training was completed, I was ready to undertake emergency calls, and as all new students, I was indeed very excited but nervous on what I would face dealing with people when they face life-changing emergencies.

I was pleased to be working with David as any new individual needed the experience and guidance of colleagues. I can remember sitting in the vehicle outside Southend Hospital when our radio was activated, and I was given my first emergency call. You hoped for something simple, straightforward that would settle the nerves and that would not involve all your new-found skills being brought to the fore on the first call. I was to be disappointed. The call was given as a gas explosion: An elderly person was involved. My mind raced as to what to expect and more importantly what I would do.

Dave was great; he was calm, professional, and experienced. We set off with Dave driving and me worrying. We arrived with the fire service. There had been a gas explosion, but it was a small gas fire. The injuries were not life-threatening, and we treated my very first 999 call with Dave standing shoulder to shoulder, guiding and supporting. The patient was conveyed, and the emergency call went well.

I remember this call very vividly as it was my first call, and since then thirty years have passed. I have gone from that ambulance man to now ensuring we still deliver high-quality patient care across Essex as the general manager for this region. Over the years, I have worked with many new people, and that first lesson from Dave paid dividends as that supportive and guiding nature is invaluable to people undertaking this challenging role.

There were many other occasions I worked with Dave, and from that point, I have progressed and indeed am extremely grateful for those early formative years.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Jun 21, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462864218

Book preview

Under the Blue Lights

My service with the Norfolk Ambulance

Service at Lowestoft Ambulance Station

(1974–1979)

David Sheldrake

Copyright © 2011 by David Sheldrake.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011906592

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4628-6420-1

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4628-6419-5

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4628-6421-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

0-800-644-6988

www.Xlibrispublishing.co.uk

[e-mail]

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Contents

Chapter One:       How It All Started

Chapter Two:        Working the Station Rank, Local Characters

Chapter Three:     Women of the Night and Sometimes Day

Chapter Four:       My Time in the Ambulance Service Begins

Chapter Five:        Leading Ambulance Man Eddie Eldrett Ex-Royal Marines and Alias ‘Action Man’

Chapter Six:         Ambulance Regional Training School Looms Ever Closer

Chapter Seven:     Things That Snore and Go Bump in the Night!

Chapter Eight:     Ambulance Training School over Return to Lowestoft Ambulance Station

Chapter Nine:      Ambulance Station Work to Rule, and Death and Dead People

Chapter Ten:        Fire, Police, Ambulance

Chapter Eleven:   Maternity Cases, Unexpected Births

Chapter Twelve:   Some Final Ambulance Memories

This book is a lasting tribute to the Norfolk Ambulance Service and most of all to the men I served with at Lowestoft Ambulance Station, ‘Under the Blue Lights’ (1974-1979).

Former chief ambulance officer, Norfolk Ambulance Service: The late John H. Daykin. Former station officers: Mr A. Coleman, Mr B. Brunning, Mr R. Carroll, and Mr G. Ward. Leading ambulance men: Mr E. Eldrett, Mr D. Evans, Mr R. Knights, and Mr R. Rampley. Ambulance men: Mr J. Bond, Mr J. Sword, Mr T. Difford, Mr R. Worrell, Mr B. Barcley, Mr K. Rochard, Mr I. Levett, Mr D. Read, Mr T. Blowers, Mr T. Hall, Mr D. Waller, Mr P. Bradnam, and Mr J. Cobb.

I don’t know what has happened to you all over the years!

But thanks for being fantastic workmates and making my time very enjoyable! God bless you all! And thanks to the former Norfolk Ambulance Service too.

Foreword

Back in the early 1970s, the NHS Ambulance Service came under the remit of the Norfolk Ambulance Service, and in particular, Lowestoft Ambulance Station, although clearly situated in Suffolk, was established under the same banner!

It was a local system and a fine workforce that worked very well in its day under the command of the late Chief Ambulance Officer John H Daykin. However, management and training and development requirements had moved on considerably.

Some twenty years later, the Norfolk Ambulance Service, more commonly known as the Norfolk Ambulance Service, joined with the Cambridgeshire and Suffolk services to become the East Anglian Ambulance Service NHS Trust. This was a result of government-required changes to the health system.

Then in 2007, the said East Anglian Service was reborn again after joining with Essex and Beds & Herts Services to become the (as we know it today) East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

I, a little like the author of this book, spent most of my forty years growing with the relevant services, and the conversion from the recognised ‘Miller Ambulance Aid’ training into a ‘paramedic’ service has seen a vast improvement in patient care skills.

There will always be sad stories to tell—that’s the nature of the ‘job’, but we must not forget the ‘funnies’ and the ‘successes’—even the modern-day paramedics have to spend time alone because the ‘wind’ has got into their eyes or their crew mate has gone ‘base over apex’ whilst getting out of the cab at a RTC (road traffic collision).

I hope you get the ‘feel’ for some of this when you read on!

Kevin Janney

Ambulance Man 1971

Norfolk Ambulance Service

Senior Ambulance Officer or Resilience Manager 2011

East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust

The very first emergency call

I joined the Essex Ambulance Service on 21 April 1981 at the tender age of twenty-one. I underwent training at Witham and in the first year completed the driver training and ambulance aid training, both of which were conducted at Markfield in Leicestershire. When all this training was completed, I was ready to undertake emergency calls, and as all new students, I was indeed very excited but nervous on what I would face dealing with people when they face life-changing emergencies.

I was pleased to be working with David as any new individual needed the experience and guidance of colleagues. I can remember sitting in the vehicle outside Southend Hospital when our radio was activated, and I was given my first emergency call. You hoped for something simple, straightforward that would settle the nerves and that would not involve all your new-found skills being brought to the fore on the first call. I was to be disappointed. The call was given as a gas explosion: An elderly person was involved. My mind raced as to what to expect and more importantly what I would do.

Dave was great; he was calm, professional, and experienced. We set off with Dave driving and me worrying. We arrived with the fire service. There had been a gas explosion, but it was a small gas fire. The injuries were not life-threatening, and we treated my very first 999 call with Dave standing shoulder to shoulder, guiding and supporting. The patient was conveyed, and the emergency call went well.

I remember this call very vividly as it was my first call, and since then thirty years have passed. I have gone from that ambulance man to now ensuring we still deliver high-quality patient care across Essex as the general manager for this region. Over the years, I have worked with many new people, and that first lesson from Dave paid dividends as that supportive and guiding nature is invaluable to people undertaking this challenging role.

There were many other occasions I worked with Dave, and from that point, I have progressed and indeed am extremely grateful for those early formative years.

Simon Eatherton,

Essex Area Manager,

East of England Ambulance Service

Acknowledgements

First of all, a very big special thanks to my Jennifer! Without her encouragement and support, I could not have written this book. Another big special thanks to Kevin Janney of East of England Ambulance Service (Norwich) for all the help he has given me with my book. Thanks to Trisha Harvey of East of England Ambulance Service (Norwich) for all her kindness shown to me. Thanks to Simon Eatherton (Essex area manager) of East of England Ambulance Service for his comments about me. God bless you, mate. And last of all, thanks to the late John. H. Daykin, former chief ambulance officer, Norfolk Ambulance Service. Sir, thank you for giving me the chance to serve at Lowestoft Ambulance Station.

A big special thank you to my publisher, Xlibris for turning my scribble into a book.

Chapter One

How It All Started

It must have been about 1971. I think it was when Jenn my wife and I decided to move from our one-bedroom bungalow in Essex to a brand-new three-bedroom detached house in Oulton Broad near Lowestoft, Suffolk.

I was only twenty-two years of age. We were moving to a new area. We did not know anyone there, and I did not have a job.

When we first moved to Lowestoft, the house that we were buying in Oulton Broad had not yet finished being built. So we had to stay in a very nice holiday centre called Broadland Chalets for four weeks or longer, if I remember right.

It was winter, and I needed a job, so I went to Lowestoft Labour Exchange (now called job centres). I found a job as a hackney carriage (taxi) driver with a company based in Lowestoft called Oulton Radio Taxis. Little did I know at that time how useful this job would be to me later in my life to have the knowledge of all the streets in Lowestoft and surrounding areas when life or death matters!

Anyway my first day at the taxi firm was very worrying, so was the first week in fact! The weekly wage was £13 per week plus tips!

I was given a black Ford Zodiac to drive, and I spent the first thirteen-hour shift in the taxi office worrying