SEASONAL workers from Bulgaria were taught life-saving first aid skills – complete with mock wounds – recently.

British Red Cross casualty simulation volunteers made the workers – who are living and working at S&A Produce’s Brierley Court Farm during the strawberry picking season – up with life-like fake wounds and demonstrated how to treat them.

The employees were invited to attend the training to learn how to look after cuts, bruises and other everyday injuries. They were also taught skills like chest compressions to use in the case of more serious health emergencies.

Red Cross community based first aid trainer, Amanda Smith, said: “This is the fourth year running we have offered S&A’s seasonal workers a free training session and we have really enjoyed working with the farm again.

"Many of the Bulgarian workers are from isolated rural communities, with limited access to healthcare in an emergency. The idea of the course is to make it extremely accessible so they can go away with the basic life-saving skills we all need in our daily lives, and the confidence to put them into practice."

Workers speak limited English but training is very visual so participants are able to understand and learn the skills taught even without an interpreter.

Jude Norcott, from S&A Produce, added: “We always try to offer our workers as many pastimes as possible that might interest them. They’re here for a long time and it’s good to offer them activities that they will enjoy, but that will also be useful to them. In this case they will be learning skills they can take back to their home countries, so that’s great.”