VOLUNTEERS in West Linton have just celebrated a decade of saving lives.

Over the past ten years the highly trained First Responders have reacted to more than 200 calls to the emergency services.

The village group recently celebrated its tenth anniversary by inviting past and present Responders along with Bryan Finlay, the Scottish Ambulance Service community resuscitation development officer, to the regular monthly training evening.

And thanks to a generous donation from the Alice Hamilton Trust the Group has recently been able to acquire new training equipment to reinforce their CPR and defibrillator-based training sessions.

The West Linton group continues to provide an early response in situations such as a heart or asthma attack, attending the local patient before the ambulance crew arrives.

Over the 10 years they have supported the needs of the local community by responding to an average of 20 999 calls from West Linton and the surrounding area every year.

During the decade the volunteer Responders have delivered out of hours and weekend response cover for well over 90 per cent of the time allotted to them.

But they are in need of fresh volunteers.

Kevin Scott, from the West Linton Community First Responders, told us: "There are currently only eight active Responders and while the group is committed to continuing to support the local community it would warmly welcome new volunteers."

Any resident of West Linton or surrounding area who would like to become involved should contact the group coordinator, Heather Robertson at heather@wlinton.orangehome.co.uk.