Worthing St John Ambulance volunteers receive a special deli

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Worthing St John Ambulance volunteers receive a special delivery

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Sussex St John Ambulance’s cycling first aid service has received a £650 stamp of approval from the Royal Mail – thanks to two men’s participation in the Worthing Birdman competition.

Royal Mail donated £650 to the charity after employee and Worthing St John Ambulance volunteer Cliff Baddock told his fellow work colleagues about the challenge.

Volunteers Cliff, 56, from Ferring, and Jodie Norris, 29, from Worthing, plunged 35 feet in a cardboard “air ambulance” in the Worthing Birdman competition in August.

The fund-raising feat was designed to raise money for the charity’s cycle response unit, which has bicycles equipped with first aid kits including medical gases and defibrillators.

Cliff, who works at the Gatwick mail centre in Crawley, managed to raise £450 in sponsorship from his fellow Royal Mail employees and received a further donation of £200 from the company.

He and Jodie have so far raised £2,650 since their Birdman leap and more money is still being donated. The funds will be used to buy and equip a fourth bicycle for the cycle response unit as well as paying for more volunteers to be trained as cycle responders.

Sussex St John Ambulance’s commissioner operations Colin Keywood said: “We’re extremely grateful to the Royal Mail for supporting this very worthwhile cause. Our cycle responders are often the first on the scene in serious medical emergencies and their rapid intervention can be the difference between a life lost and a life saved.”