Prestigious accolades to be awarded to life-saving heroes in Berwick

They will be awarded Royal Humane Society Resuscitation Certificates and have won the personal praise of society secretary Andrew Chapman.

When the man collapsed and stopped breathing at the Castle Hotel in Castlegate, on the afternoon of October 7 last year, manager Joe-Anne Rigby immediately began administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

A call went out to the nearby railway station that a defibrillator was urgently needed at the hotel and Alison Fergie and Matthew Cadman grabbed the defibrillator kept at the station and rushed to the hotel where they found Ms Rigby fighting to resuscitate the man.

They set up the defibrillator and Ms Fergie then used it to shock the man before she began to administer CPR. The man finally began to breathe again and when an ambulance arrived, medics took over the fight to save him.

Thankfully, he went on to survive the ordeal and made a successful recovery. However, without the immediate aid of the three life-savers who managed to bring him back to life initially, it is doubtful he would have survived.

Mr Chapman said: “The treatment was virtually immediate in this case and it paid big dividends. The man was already breathing again by the time the ambulance arrived.

“Without doubt the three life-savers can truly be described as the right people in the right place at the right time. They did a wonderful job and richly deserve the awards they are to receive.”