CORBRIDGE and Bellingham have new community first responders thanks to a recruitment drive by the North East Ambulance Service.

The villages are among 13 communities across Northumberland to have new, fully- trained lifesavers in their midst after a plea for volunteers went out in January.

After completing two days of training at Alnwick Fire Station, Corbridge’s Danielle Liddle and Bellingham’s Anthony Buchanan, along with 11 new colleagues, are now ready to respond to life- threatening emergencies in their communities prior to the arrival of an ambulance.

Responders are everyday members of the public who are trained by NEAS in basic first aid and life support.

They are provided with oxygen and a defibrillator and deployed to life-threatening emergencies, such as chest pain, breathing difficulties, cardiac arrest and unconsciousness, to be followed by the nearest emergency care crew.

In 2016, there were almost 200,000 emergency calls in the Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group area.

Of those, 26,341 incidents were prioritised as life threatening or potentially life threatening and 1,477 were responded to by community first responders.

As well as Corbridge and Bellingham, the new recruits will cover Newton by the Sea, Amble, Cramlington, Seaton Deleval, Alnwick, Chatton, Rock and Ellingham – adding to schemes already established in Berwick, Belford, Wooler, Seahouses and Holy Island.

Danielle is a nanny by day as well as working for a private first aid company.

“I would like to join NEAS as a paramedic and I think that being a CFR is a great way into the ambulance service, and all of the training and experience from this will help me achieve my goal,” she said.

Bar manager Anthony sees the role as a vital resource in his community. “Having a CFR locally could save a life,” he said.

NEAS community development officer Alex Mason, said: “Our latest cohort of volunteers are a fantastic example of how our community first responders come from all walks of life. Being based in the community means they can be on the scene within minutes, administering lifesaving first aid while an ambulance is on its way.”