Chris Currie, who has died at the age of 77, was a Penrith man with a heart of gold who would do anything for anyone.
A good humoured ambulance man for more than 40 years, Chris refused to let a dislike for the sight of blood stand in the way of dedicated care for patients.
His life-saving training also paved the way for inclusion in the Guinness Book of Records.
In 1988, he and Kevin Pilkington completed an 80-hour resuscitation marathon as they each worked one hour on, one hour off administering mouth-to-mouth and CPR to a dummy patient in Penrith’s town centre bandstand.
That excellent effort also helped to raise almost £1,500 for the Heart Attack Appeal.
Born at the town’s Raiselands Croft in 1946, Chris was a proud Townheader.
He moved to Glasgow at a young age before returning to Penrith aged five and he lived in the same house at Wilson Row for around seven decades.
Chris’s mother was Chrissie Pattinson and his step-dad was Bill. Educated at the Boys’ National and then Tynefield schools, he initially plied his trade as a plasterer from the age of 15.
He worked for a spell at the Hutton Hall base of bakery firm Birkett’s in Penrith and made plasterboards at British Gypsum’s Kirkby Thore site before switching careers to become a well-known ambulance man.
He saved the lives of patients and during one notable assignment was first on scene to offer treatment when Penrith man John Siddle fell on Helvellyn’s Striding Edge and tumbled towards Red Tarn.
Chris and John would both later become respected members of the fund-raising Warehouse Old Codgers Club (OCC).
Chris was a keen footballing full back from his teens and initially played for Christ Church under-18s during the early 1960s. They memorably won one cup final 2-1 against a Dockray side who earlier in the season had beaten them twice in the league, once by 16 goals to nil.
He played for Townhead, the Wetheriggs United team he helped to establish and also on Sundays for the Royal.
His coaching duties later started initially for the Pennyhill Park junior team with Maurice Bradley and Colin Norman. Without a pitch, the club relocated a short distance and became Fairhill Tigers, which gave scores of local players, including Chris’s sons, their first taste of football.
Chris took youngsters to London for tours of Wembley Stadium — where end-of-season club presentations would be made — and visits to HMS Belfast on the Thames.
Chris was also a keen cricketer for Penrith Wanderers, played darts for the town’s British Legion and BBC clubs, and was a long-serving Penrith Golf Club member, winning several competition trophies.
He also watched son Martyn play for Penrith Football Club at its former Southend Road ground, and latterly was a familiar face in the Blues’ Frenchfield Park stadium clubhouse.
In addition to the OCC, he was a member of Penrith Lions.
Chris’ funeral service is to take place at the Eden Valley Crematorium, near Temple Sowerby, on Friday, May 5, at 11am.
He is survived by sons Steven and Martyn, both of Penrith, and David, of Canada; sister Doreen Hodgson; and brothers Ian and Glen, all of Penrith. He was also brother of the late Willie, and had seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
