Generous donation breathes new life into Darwen’s St John Ambulance Station

St John Ambulance is set to return to Darwen after the charity’s base was bought by a generous donor and gifted to them to use for free.

And there’s more good news as the building in George Street will also house Darwen Brass Band – offering the talented group a new home for free too.

Volunteers from both are now hard at work transforming the ‘Brass and Bandage Station’, which has stood empty since the pandemic.

Adam Brogden, County President for St John Ambulance said: ‘’We are absolutely overwhelmed at this generosity.

‘’Before the pandemic, the Darwen branch of St John Ambulance had more than 30 members, but, sadly, the building was failing and the costs mounting meaning we had to close.

‘’Thanks to the generosity of a keen supporter of Darwen and the wonderful support of the Council, we are now able to use the building again – completely for free, which is just fantastic.

‘’I would like to thank my colleague Peter Craine for the huge amounts of work he has done to get us to this point – working closely with Darwen Brass to make this all possible – and to Janet Catto from St John Ambulance for her support in this venture.’’

Adam added: ‘’St John Ambulance is an incredibly exciting place to be – there’s so many opportunities, including for young people who join as cadets and go on to pursue a career in healthcare.

‘’We work closely with communities right across Lancashire and there’s a big focus on inclusivity, diversity and looking after our people – whether it’s at local events or to add resilience when there’s things like severe flooding.

‘’Helping people and caring for the sick is what drives us and our big goal now is to build a thriving unit once again in Darwen – we can’t wait to open our doors.

‘’With almost 40 members, Darwen Brass had also been looking for a new home due to the mounting costs they were also facing.’’

Chair, Mandy Pickles said: ‘’What a lifeline this is for us, it will certainly secure and safeguard the future for Darwen Brass, which is just brilliant.

‘’We put a plea out for new facilities and this opportunity answered the call in its entirety, we just can’t believe we’ve been offered this amazing opportunity – we are extremely grateful and thankful for everyone involved.

‘’Darwen Brass has an open-door policy; we are very much like a big family with a wonderful and incredibly diverse mix of ages and musical abilities who come together as a team to socialise and play music together.

‘’Music can benefit everyone – it brings positive health and wellbeing benefits along with teamwork and bringing people together from all walks of life.

‘’Now our future is bright, we want to extend this to the rest of the community by setting up a community training band – watch this space for future developments!

‘’We’re also planning concerts at our new base – with one in the pipeline to help raise vital funds to support our new amazing friends and roomies, St John Ambulance.’’

Since being handed the keys, the groups have both been busy painting the inside of the building, with paint kindly donated by Darwen-based Crown Paints.

They’re all working hard towards a grand opening on November 2 and everyone is welcome – whether to check out the new facilities, learn a bit of first aid or enjoy listening to the band.

There’ll be a chance to find out more about the two groups on the day too, with the event running from 11am to 3pm.

Leader of the Council, Councillor Phil Riley has been working with the kind donor for some time to support the purchase of the building – helping to bring it back in to use to benefit the community.

Councillor Phil Riley, Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: ‘’We wanted to do everything we could to help make this happen.

‘’And just look at the results – an empty building which is being transformed into a busy place for members of St John Ambulance and Darwen Brass too.

‘’It’s a chance for these organisations to go from strength-to-strength which is wonderful news for Darwen. I want to wish them all lots of luck.’’