Hi Tom. Read the book, now regular reader of the blog.. ..nice. I'm also a volunteer, but not with the St John(s) or BRC, i'm a Welsh Ambulance Service trained 'Community 1st Responder' (CFR's) - used in the local community to assist on (mainly) red calls that would appear to be 'within' 5 miles of our 'centre'. I joined the scheme because (I) I hate to 'stand by and do nothing' and (ii) I (and others) saw it as a way of helping people in communities. Even though the desire is there, personally I could not afford to take a drop from my current pay to commence training as a Tech so this is probably the nearest i'm going to get to helping people. that's why some people do it as a volunteer But I make an effort to make sure that I distinguish myself from crews to the patient(s) and stand back 'ready to assist' when the crews arrive..