THE Barrow ambulance boss left his desk for life at the sharp end back in 1996 as the driver of an emergency paramedic unit.

The Mail, on January 11 in 1996, noted: "For the past two years divisional manager and trained paramedic Mark Robson has been stuck behind a desk doing administrative work.

"But thanks to a £5,500 fast response unit and a new initiative he will now be return to answering emergency calls.

"The new bright yellow fluorescent response car is one of five introduced across Cumbria in the past week to cut down the average 19-minute emergency response time by three minutes.

"It could make the difference between life and death.

"Cumbria ambulance chiefs came up with the idea to put managers back on the street after new technology helped lighten their paper work."

Mr Robson said: "It was felt there was a resource there that could be developed.

"There has been a change in the last six months in the way the service is managed and with the increase in information technology it has freed up a certain amount of time.

"It was felt that we could use that time to the benefit of patients.

"At the end of the day the result will be to save lives, there's no doubt about it.

"I enjoy getting back to paramedic work. That's why I joined the service."

The Mail, on Tuesday April 1 in 1997,  noted: "A Kirksanton farmer turned his back on birthday presents this year and instead asked friends and family to donate money to charity.

"Joe Watson, of Hall Green Farm, celebrated his 40th birthday recently but instead of receiving presents he asked for donations to Millom Ambulance Service equipment fund.

"Mr Watson held a birthday party at Haverigg Prison Officers' Club and £857.50 was raised in donations and from a raffle."

In September 1998 Tesco customer service manager Paul Shepherd  volunteered to play the casualty as Barrow paramedics tried out a new immobilising mattress.

Rick Shaw, Sharon Hawthorne and Andy Ogden accepted the new piece of equipment which had been provided by donations from Tesco, Sovereign Chemicals, Transco and British gas.

The air pump to inflate the special mattress for suspected back, neck and head injuries was operated by  Natasha Beattie, company secretary for British Gas.