THE first paramedic in North Yorkshire is in the running for a prize in the York Community Pride awards.

John Sutherland, 57, has been nominated for the Health Service Hero award in the Evening Press and City of York Council campaign to recognise unsung heroes.

Mr Sutherland, who lives at Skelton, near York, worked in the ambulance service for nearly 40 years, holding a range of jobs across Yorkshire before retiring last summer.

He was nominated for the award by his wife, Denise, and said it would be an honour to be recognised.

He said: "I have given a lot of my life to ambulance work. I would be very pleased to get the award. It would be lovely recognition for the health service.

"We hear a lot of negative stuff about the health service, but there are a lot of people working on the ground floor and it would be nice to get recognition for them. It would be a message to people that, for many, it's not just a job."

Mr Sutherland's work has been primarily in paramedic and training roles, but in 2000 he was asked to oversee the fundraising work for Yorkshire Air Ambulance, helping to raise £1 million.

He said: "It was a fantastic year - hard work, but fantastic."

Before that, Mr Sutherland had become a paramedic in his home town of Grimsby in 1968, before moving to Keighley, to attend the ambulance training centre there.

From 1976 to 1988 he worked in Scarborough, setting up North Yorkshire's ambulance training school, and was in charge of the county's training when he moved to York in 1988.

Shortly after that, he became the county's first qualified paramedic, and he continued overseeing ambulance training in North Yorkshire until his retirement last year.

We are still looking for nominations for our awards. To nominate your community heroes, fill in the entry form, remembering to include the category for which you are entering, and giving reasons on no more than two sides of A4. Our judges will select three finalists in each category, and winners will be announced at an awards ceremony later this year.

We also still need sponsors for our awards. For more information on sponsoring an award category, phone Nigel Briggs at the Evening Press on 01904 567168, or email nigel.briggs@ycp.co.uk