We have always agreed that should we ever encounter an accident, or a person in a state of collapse, NOT knowing how to provide lifesaving attention was a very good reason for not getting involved for fear of making a bad situation worse.

But reading the article on the new Heartstart group made us realise we were burying our heads in the sand.

This team of nurses and resuscitation experts from the Princess Margaret Hospital are prepared, in their own time and for free, to organise and run workshops that provide basic life saving skills that the general public can use in an emergency.

We went along to a Heartstart workshop where the team and environment were warm and friendly. We learned what to do in the crucial minutes before an ambulance arrives, were shown how to do rescue breathing and mouth to mouth and practised on their dolls.

At the end of the session we received an attendance certificate and came away agreeing that now if the situation arose we would get involved, not walk away.

The members of the Heartstart group are part of a national initiative co-ordinated by the British Heart Foundation.

I have to say we were very surprised to find that, apart from ourselves, only one other person had booked a place.

What we had never considered was that rather than a stranger, the person needing help is more likely to be a member of our own family or a dear friend or even one of us.

We could be lying there dying, and would desperately want and expect someone anyone to try and help us.

These are selfish thoughts I know, but they were enough of an incentive to get us to book our places on a Heartstart workshop.

Trevor Bailey and Christine Shepherd

Staring Close, Middleleaze