The story of a journey to Northern India to teach resuscitation skills was told to Narberth & District Probus members by Ian Summers following a welcome from president Patrick Jones.

Ian, after nearly 25 years as a woodwork and engineering teacher in the comprehensive system, set up his own business in property maintenance. He moved to Pembrokeshire four years ago where he continued with his 43-year involvement in church management and volunteering to help local groups.

About 15 years ago, Ian learned the skills required to practice resuscitation. So when a group of six St John’s Ambulance Cadets in Cardiff wanted to gain the skills, he was happy to help. All of them passed the tests and were rewarded with certificates.

Wishing to go further they wanted to travel somewhere abroad to help more people learn. They decided to go to Northern India, so they set about raising funds, individually, to fund the trip. All six cadets successfully achieved the the amount required and, together with Ian who had agreed to go as leader, and 10 Little Annie dolls - these are dummies required to demonstrate the procedure - set out on their arduous journey.

Virgin generously provided free passage for the luggage for the 10,000 mile journey. Upon arrival in Delhi a further 12-hour journey by car awaited to take them to their destination in Northern India in a temperature of 32 degrees Celsius. They were based in McCleod Ganj, a suburb of Dharamsala, near the foothills of the Himalayas. It is known ass Little Lhasa since the Tibetan Government in exile is based here. There are now several thousand Tibetan exiles living here after fleeing from the Chinese invasion of their country.

Ian and his group successfully integrated into the the local schools and churches and successfully trained many of the locals in the skills of resuscitation. (Interestingly, Lord Elgin, of Elgin Marbles fame is buried in the churchyard here.) The local church minister, Rev’d Kujaman John, at Ian's invitation, visited Cardiff later and was hosted by Ian's church.

Ian's power point presentation clearly illustrated the huge gap between the rich and the poor in the area. Along the same street palatial buildings on one side were faced by very poor quality hovels opposite. There were various markets some selling gold and silver objects whilst another next door was selling cheap goods. The same applies to eating places.

The guest speaker was given a vote of thanks by Freeman Brawn on behalf of the members who had enjoyed the talk immensely, finding it interesting and enlightening.