Flintshire paramedic to retire after 42 years

Glyn, who is originally from Mold, but now lives in Connah’s Quay, began in the 1960s as a volunteer with the St John Ambulance cleaning the emergency vehicles in Mold.

The paramedic, who is married with two daughters and a son, said: “My interest in first aid really grew from there.”

Aged 17 he joined the ambulance cadet scheme based at Liverpool and went on to become a member of the Institute of Certified Ambulance Personnel, now the ASI.

Glyn, who even passed his driving test in an ambulance, looks back fondly at his first emergency call-out.

“I didn’t have my driving licence when I went to Liverpool, I learnt to drive in an ambulance and passed my test in one,” he said.

“I remember my first blue light run, when I was at the end of my cadet training. I was in the control room and I was told to pick up a nurse and incubator and transfer them from Mill Road hospital to Alder Hey in a Morris Oxford estate car – it was quite tense to do that.”

After completing his training he worked as a relief ambulance man for east Flintshire, working out of Queensferry, Mold and Holywell.

He took on a permanent role as an ambulance man with the service from 1972, first at Mold and then Flint before being moved to Holywell and back to Flint where he has been based ever since.

Looking back, Glyn, who became a paramedic in 1992, added: “I've seen the development of the ambulance service, from the ambulance with two bench seats where we used canvass stretchers with wooden poles, which was very physical, and a limited amount of dressings such as triangular bandages and an oxygen cylinder, to the vehicles and modern equipment we use today.

“Personally, it’s been a good experience. I left school with very few qualifications and it was just the interest in first aid and then the ambulance service which helped me get to where I am today."