KNUTSFORD Town Mayor, Cllr Tony Dean, has become one of the newest members of Knutsford’s Heartstart community.

He attended the lifesaving course which is run by a team of British Heart Foundation Heartstart volunteers and Knutsford First Responders, during the November session in Knutsford Methodist Church hall.

The mayor was amongst a number of people who had attended to learn about vital medical techniques such as CPR and how to put a casualty into the recovery position.

The mayor said: “The Heartstart training course which I recently attended, run by Knutsford Community First Responders and excellently carried out by properly qualified instructors, took a group of about 20 or so of us through the various stages of learning how to attend to casualties, how to demonstrate CRP and how to use a defibrillator.

“I now feel very confident I will be useful in any situation in which someone had collapsed due to a cardiac event.”

Dr Tom McDonald, who ran the course, was impressed with the mayor’s efforts. He said: "It's a pleasure to teach people who are so enthusiastic to learn and get involved. We even had the mayor and his cadet at this month’s session sat in the front row firing questions and answers at us.

“Despite it being 40 years since his last course, the mayor soon shook off the cobwebs and was getting into the course trying to save our Resusci Annie doll with great chest compression. We would encourage anyone to come along to our free course and learn, in a relaxed environment, some simple skills that save lives."