Congratulations to Tenby’s Ben James who has been presented with a ‘Community Responder of the Year’ award.

Having been unable to attend the WAST Awards (Welsh Ambulance Services Trust) ceremony, Ben, who has been a Community First Responder for the Tenby and Saundersfoot area in Pembrokeshire since 2015, was presented with the award by the Trust's vice-chair Ceri Jackson at Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen.

Ben booked on for over 1,000 hours of shifts throughout the 2023-24 calendar year, and he attended 75 red calls in that time, including four cardiac arrests.

In 2024 Ben has completed almost 700 hours worth of CFR shifts.

Ben is also a volunteer crew member for Tenby RNLI lifeboat, as well as acting as the organistion’s press officer.

His nomination for the WAST award stated: “I rarely have a visit to my local station without a member of staff mentioning and praising Ben for his work on one job or another.

“On occasion, when crews/CHARUs are aware CFRs are booked, they will request Ben to be allocated if possible.

“Ben is skilled. His work is made even more impressive given that he works full-time as an IT manager at a local school, has two teenage daughters, and he volunteers as lifeboat crew.

“I’m privileged to work with Ben, proud to call him a friend and grateful he’s part of my local community.

“WAST award? Give the guy a Knighthood!” they added.

The Welsh Ambulance Service celebrated its staff and volunteers at the annual awards ceremony held on Tuesday, November 12, with more than 200 guests gathering at Newport’s International Convention Centre for the event.

More than 300 nominations were received for this year’s event, which is designed to recognise staff, volunteers and the public for their contributions over the past year.