ST JOHN Ambulance crews in York are to undergo their annual retraining - as money continues to pour in for the Lifesavers Appeal.

The Evening Press-backed appeal, which aims to raise £45,000 for a new Crusader ambulance to be used in York and the surrounding area, has collected a third of its total thanks to generous donations from the public.

Now the volunteers who will be in charge of the new vehicle when it arrives in the city are to sit re-takes as part of the ongoing training offered by St John Ambulance.

Ambulance crew member David Newton, 43, Sergeant in Charge at Tadcaster, said the amount volunteers had to know in order to carry out their duties was increasing year on year.

He has been a volunteer for 13 years.

He said: "The training is getting harder and harder and we have to make sure that everyone is up to standard.

"Everybody who is ambulance trained throughout the North Yorkshire district is to be reassessed in January.

"Ambulance crews have 14 courses to complete because we can do most things except administer drugs. We resuscitate, put on bandages, treat burns and scalds, fractures and all other injuries and we are usually first on the scene.

"We get patients ready to be transported to hospital by emergency ambulances so we have to do retakes every year to show we have still got the knowledge."

The St John Ambulance can be seen out in force at York City games, at race meetings on Knavesmire, concerts and fairs.

Throughout the Christmas period the brigade has also been on hand at carol concerts at York Minster and at pantomimes throughout the city.

The new Crusader ambulance costs £42,000 and the extra £3,000 will pay for a state-of-the-art stretcher, an air conditioning system to help people suffering from heat exhaustion, and an automatic defibrillator.

It will help save lives and provide medical cover at events around the county.

If anyone wants to contribute to the appeal they can send cheques made payable to St John Ambulance Appeal, c/o David Sutton at St John Ambulance, St John House, 236 Marton Road, Middlesbrough, TS4 2EZ, or go into any high street bank and pay into account number 60382078, sort code 20-82-94. Or call in at the Evening Press, 76/86 Walmgate, York, YO1 9YN.

Updated: 10:26 Tuesday, December 31, 2002