Left to right: Penny Parker, Anne-Marie Greenough & Chief Inspector Amy English Nottinghamshire Police
Publican Penny Parker of The Victoria Inn in Burton and her customer Anne-Marie Greenough have each been given a National Pubwatch Bravery & Meritorious Conduct Award for saving a customer’s life.
Penny, who runs the pub with her husband Dave, was in an upstairs room at the pub on the 21 May 2021, when staff alerted her to the fact that one of the regular customers Colin had collapsed in the bar. She went to the bar and found Anne-Marie performing CPR.
The ambulance service was contacted and Penny stood beside Anne-Marie relaying instructions from the call handler and encouraging her in her efforts to save the man’s life. An air ambulance attended the scene and the customer was taken to hospital. He later made a full recovery from cardiac arrest and still comes into the pub every day.
Days after the incident Penny’s brother-in-law Alan later suffered a cardiac arrest and died at the age of 62. His death spurred the licensees to raise £1,500 to fund the purchase of a defibrillator to be installed in the pub. After installation of the equipment, they also paid for a training session for staff and customers.
Penny said: “It was a massive shock to find out we were receiving an award for just doing what we needed to do. We would have done the same for anyone.
She added: “But this is a really good thing so we can raise awareness around the issues of cardiac arrest. We still fundraise for the British Heart Foundation and hopefully this will inspire others to do the same.”
Anne-Marie said: “It means a lot to have been put forward for the award. I’m honoured. It still seems unreal that I actually saved someone’s life. It happened so quickly that I didn’t really have time to think about it and just reacted on instinct. It was a shock and still now when I see Colin reminds me of that day.”
The Victoria Inn in Burton has also just received the top accolade of Marston’s pub of the year.
