Michael McHardy

Joined 1985

Isle of Sheppey Ambulance Cadet Division, Kent

Listen to this interview:
Colour photograph of an adult male in a grey t-shirt. He stands facing the camera and is pulling the neck of his shirt to one side to show a St John Ambulance tattoo on his shoulder.
Michael McHardy showing his St John tattoo, 2022 Image courtesy of the Museum of the Order of St John
Read transcript +

Transcript

So how it impacted on my life was massively. It changed me as a person. When I was – before St John I was nervous all the time. I wouldn’t say “boo” to a goose because I would be frightened of being hit. I don’t want to go too much into detail with my family life, but obviously being in St John it give me more confidence as a child to speak when I needed to speak, which I will go on about what I’ve spoke about before. I was on a train and there was a conductor and everyone was telling this guy off saying he was drunk. Something clicked in that didn’t seem right and I spoke to – asked the police officer and said, “I think he might be diabetic.” And when they checked he was a diabetic. But that’s what St John done to me, gave me the confidence to go and speak to an adult. And St John’s has changed me as a person. I’m more of a caring person to other people, more understanding and more driven to be myself. And I’ve saved a lot of people’s lives over the years, helped a lot of people over the years. And if it weren’t for St John I wouldn’t have known what to do. So I owe St John everything, and that’s why I’ve got the tattoo.

Excerpt courtesy of Michael McHardy