A pub landlord's 8 minutes of CPR in the rain saved a window cleaner. SECAmb, Tunbridge Wells' ambulance trust, honoured him at Kent awards marking 1,030 years.

South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb), the trust that answers 999 calls in Tunbridge Wells and across Kent, has handed out its Kent awards for 2026. The commendation that opened its account of the night went to a member of the public: a pub landlord who kept a man alive until the ambulance crew arrived.

René Renault, landlord of the Red Lion in Bridge, near Canterbury, received a Chief Executive’s Commendation for Honouring Public Service. Joe Carver, a window cleaner, went into cardiac arrest while working at the pub on 14 November 2025, and René gave him CPR for eight minutes in the pouring rain. After hospital treatment and cardiac rehabilitation Joe made a full recovery and has returned to work, the trust said.

Everyone from the first call

The ceremony at The Orangery in Maidstone on Thursday 29 October put the two men in a room with the people who handled the rest of that day. Emergency Medical Advisor Caitlin Davis answered the 999 call. Prudence Moore, Mollie Smith and Teresa Morris were the ambulance colleagues who helped care for Joe at the scene. Thanet Operational Team Leader David Latham, who nominated René for the commendation, joined them.

René’s words were about Joe, and about the next time it happens:

“Finding out that Joe made a full recovery is an incredible miracle. We are now raising money for an extra defibrillator so that our community is better prepared if something like this happens again.”

The other commendations

Chief Executive’s Commendations went out in five further categories:

  • Acting with Courage: Community First Responder Warren Fassenfelt.
  • Demonstrating Kindness: Community First Responder Tutor Jody Love.
  • Excellence in Clinical Practice: Amy Igweonu, Danny Speed, Harry Kirkby, Emma Webber and Ian Spencer, for a digital improvement project that the trust says transformed how it communicates with patients. SECAmb puts the result at more than £200,000 in calculated efficiency savings and more than 1,000 hours returned to patient care.
  • Celebrating Inclusivity: EDI Advisor Anthony Walker-Banfield.
  • Recognising Voluntary Service: Wellbeing Volunteer Bob Sheridan.

1,030 years between them

More than 140 colleagues and their families attended. Forty-six colleagues were recognised for long service, which the trust adds up to 1,030 years. Patrick Fagan and Roger Hext each received an award for 40 years, eight decades of it between the two of them.

Mrs Victoria Wallace DL, Deputy Lieutenant of Kent, presented The King’s Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct on behalf of the King. The evening also remembered seven colleagues who died in service during the past year.

The trust behind the 999 calls here

SECAmb was formed on 1 July 2006 from the Kent, Surrey and Sussex ambulance trusts. It covers 3,600 square miles and more than 4.9 million people across Kent and Medway, Surrey, East and West Sussex, Brighton and Hove and part of north-east Hampshire. It also runs NHS 111 in Kent and Sussex and employs more than 4,000 staff at 60 sites, more than half of them clinicians.

It is an NHS Foundation Trust, so anyone can join as a member free of charge. Members get a newsletter with health tips, invitations to the trust’s events and notice of changes it plans to its services (secamb.nhs.uk).

Last week the same trust thanked a four-year-old Kent girl at its Paddock Wood Make Ready Centre for helping a call handler while her mum was seriously ill: Delilah, 4, Honoured at Paddock Wood Ambulance Centre.