Contributors

Alistair Gunn

Alistair qualified as a teacher specialising in secondary level science. After eight years working in schools he joined Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service as an Emergency Medical Technician. In 2006 Alistair moved into a management position in the newly created Yorkshire Ambulance Service and has worked in a number of management roles since.

His passion for education has never subsided and throughout his career in the ambulance service has worked on a number of initiatives involving training and educational engagement. All this has culminated in developing some new education resources that will hopefully inspire young people and bring the work of the emergency services alive in new ways.

James Sansom

James was born in Cambridge and continues to live in the area. Being brought up by two archaeologists, history has always been part of his life and something he has had a keen interest in.

James has volunteered for St John Ambulance since 2009, starting off as a cadet and working through various roles, including being a youth leader for local young people. During his time in St John he has collected various artifacts and pieces of the organisations history which sparked an interest in the ambulance service and its history.

When James discovered a family link to an organisation called American Ambulance Great Britain he was compelled to research the organisation more. When he found little recorded information online, he was determined to change this. Since then, James has spent five years documenting and researching the organisation and continues to share the history of this incredible organisation.

Chris Batten

Chris Batten’s interest in ambulances started when he was a member of St John Ambulance for a number of years and found there was very little information available on actual ambulances. Chris is also a keen modeller and his models have been featured in the modelling press over the past 35 years. Always interested in transport he was keen to model some ambulances but found it difficult to find good photos or indeed anything on some vehicles. As a result he started to collect photos and sought all he could including writing articles about ambulances in the local press which always included appeals for any photos or information.

Chris he has now written three books on ambulances and their history and has a vast library of photos and material. He is a retired Civil Servant and lives in Tonbridge, Kent.

Jonathan Gunn

After thirty years working in the electrical supply industry, Jonathan had a change of course and trained to be a teacher specialising in secondary level design and technology. He worked in two schools before retiring. One of the reasons he enjoyed this subject so much was giving pupils the freedom to make their own decisions in practical lessons and allowing them to exploit their own ideas.

Jonathan’s main hobby and life-long passion is photography. He is an active member of the camera club scene and has also run further education courses on photography and digital manipulation. He is never far from a photography project, be it producing images for archives and books, photographic restoration or on-going assistance to son, Alistair, by producing images and graphics for new education resources.

Jason Carlyon

Jason has worked in the ambulance service since 1996 and worked his way through a number of clinical roles in Lancashire and Yorkshire. His last clinical assignment was Emergency Care Practitioner in the North Yorkshire area.

Jason currently works as the Community Engagement Manager at Yorkshire Ambulance Service and has a special interest in resuscitation. Jason also holds a role nationally with Resuscitation Council UK and had led the Restart a Heart campaign.

Jason is always looking for different and innovative ways to engage with and educate young people.

Josh Barraclough

Josh has worked in the ambulance service for over eight years and has a keen interest in the service and diversity. Josh is the author of the Ambulance Service Trans Toolkit which aims to improve ambulance care for transgender people. As a result of this excellent piece of work, he was featured in a 2020 article in The Guardian which looked at transgender employees within the NHS who are trying to change things for the better. 

Josh is a very creative person and is skilled at creating interesting resources, writing and bringing together lots of information to make it more accessible. He has been involved in creating new ideas and activities for several of our new education resources.


Tom Helley

Tom works in the food retail sector and on a twelve-month management trainee programme after which he will become a store manager.

Tom has a passion for everything to do with the emergency services. From a young age he was passionate about the fire service, so a career change could be on the cards one day. An interest in the emergency services clearly runs in the family; both his brother and uncle are paramedics in the NHS and his Mum retired from nursing after a 48 year career in the NHS.

Tom is currently researching a new resource which will look at the history of the fire service.