With Scotland preparing to host the 2018 Glasgow European Championships, Scotmid is continuing its support for the first aid charity attending the event.
The retail co-op recently boosted funding for St Andrew’s First Aid, Scotland’s only dedicated first aid charity. The new three-year partnership enables the charity to buy new uniforms for its volunteers.
During the ten-day sporting event, the charity’s volunteers will cover the range of venues, providing first aid support and assistance to spectators and athletes.
Scotmid started its collaboration with St Andrew’s in 2015 when it made a donation of £75,000. In 2017 the retailer also funded the acquisition of 15 new bikes and uniforms, safety equipment and video cameras to assist with recording incidents for training purposes.
Stuart Callison, chief executive of St Andrew’s First Aid, said: “The continued support from Scotmid is critically important in our dedication to provide Scotland with the highest levels of trained first aiders.
“Our ambition to further grow our reach, through the delivery of such resources as the cycle squad, is supported by this partnership. Our volunteers will wear their uniforms with pride during the European Championships and beyond, bringing peace of mind to the thousands of people expected to attend.
“Scotmid’s sponsorship has already helped us deliver a number of benefits for people across the country and we remain greatly appreciative of their involvement with the charity.”
Scotmid vice president, Jim Watson, said: “This is a great opportunity for Scotmid to celebrate our great association with St Andrew’s First Aid. The work the charity does is absolutely incredible, helping to make a life-changing difference in local communities across Scotland.
“Since our association started in November 2015, Scotmid has managed to help St Andrew’s First Aid by providing the new volunteer uniforms and we look forward to continuing that for the next three years.
“We’re proud that our association with St Andrew’s First Aid continues to go from strength to strength. We share the same ethos and want to make a difference to people’s lives in Scotland.”
The charity works with a team of 1,100 adult volunteers and over 350 youth volunteers who attend 1,800 events each year. These include Premier League football matches, music concerts, community events and charity races. Overall, the team contribute 67,000 hours each year to the Scottish community.
St Andrew’s has over 130 years of experience in training and delivering first aid skills. The European Championships are expected to bring 3,000 athletes from six sports and 250,000 spectators to Scotland. The event spans across 12 different venues and has a potential TV audience of one billion.
