Black and white photograph of a young boy in uniform sitting at a table across from an adult male in a suit. The photograph is taken from behind the adult and so his face isn't shown. In front of the boy is a bowl of medical supplies. In the background there is a sign on the wall which reads St John Building Fund Appeal

Lauren McMaster

Joined 2010

Wallsend Cadet Unit, North Tyneside

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Colour photograph of a Cadet wearing green and black St John Ambulance uniform, holding up a Cadet Leadership certificate.
Lauren McMaster receiving her Cadet Leadership Certificate, 2014 Image courtesy of Lauren McMaster
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Transcript

Yes, I think I did all of them. I’m pretty sure I had my Grand Prior. I remember doing the history of St John, doing the communication, playing with the radios. They’ve all changed now, I know they’ve changed now, so they’re very different to when I did them. But yeah, I remember doing a lot more than the kids have to do now.

If you enjoyed the subject then it seemed to go really, really quickly, you just – you seemed to have a Grand Prior before you even knew it. But if you didn’t enjoy the subject then it was a really, long, tedious thing of being like I know I have to this but it’s so boring. And there wasn’t really any way of making it more entertaining, but if you did enjoy it, like Holly and Michael were really good at finding ways to make it more entertaining. If – even though we’d finished the Grand Prior, if we were all enjoying it, they managed to extend it a little bit longer, even though it didn’t have anything to do with the Grand Prior, it was still more information, it was quite good.

Excerpt courtesy of Lauren McMaster