“Let’s Keep the Beat Going!” says a Yorkshire First Aid Trainer, who was written off at school, went on to serve in the army, and is now on a mission to turn local people into everyday lifesavers.
First aid trainer and mum, Kerry Smith, 46, from Bingley, has been bowled over by her local community after a free workshop teaching ordinary people how to save someone whose heart has stopped sold out, prompting her to put on a second session so that more people within the local area have the skills to help save a life.
Owner of White Rose Training Yorkshire in Farsley, Leeds, Kerry created her free Restart a Heart CPR and defibrillator workshop on Saturday 24 October to mark Restart a Heart Day, the national awareness day led by Resuscitation Council UK and supported by the British Heart Foundation. With every place snapped up, she is now running an extra “Back by Popular Demand” session on Saturday 21 November, which is also completely free.
White Rose Training Yorkshire has trained teams at organisations including McDonald’s, Stockeld Park and Lakeland Holiday Village Club, alongside local businesses, schools and nursery staff, and Kerry’s ambition is to make lifesaving skills accessible to as many people across Yorkshire as possible.
The hands-on session teaches people how to recognise a cardiac arrest, call for help, perform CPR and use a defibrillator (AED), with plenty of time to practise and ask questions in a relaxed, friendly setting. No previous first aid experience is needed, and it is open to anyone, whether they are learning for the first time or want to refresh their skills.
Kerry said: “I honestly didn’t expect the places to go as quickly as they did, and it tells me something really important. People want to know what to do. They just need someone to show them in a way that doesn’t feel scary. So many of us have that voice in our head saying ‘I wouldn’t know what to do’ or ‘What if I get it wrong?’ My job is to quieten that voice, so that if the worst happens, you step forward instead of freezing.
We had to put on another date. Let’s keep the beat going!”
Restart a Heart Day exists because the numbers are stark.
Kerry shares that: “Fewer than one in ten people currently survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the UK, and every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces the chance of survival by around 10%. Yet when CPR is started immediately and a defibrillator is used within 3–5 minutes of a cardiac arrest, survival rates can be as high as 70%. Crucially, eight in ten out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen at home, meaning the person someone is most likely to need to save is a person they love.”
She added: “That statistic stops people in their tracks.
It’s not about being a hero at a big emergency in the street. It’s more likely to be your partner, your mum or your dad on the living room floor. One free session with us could be the difference between standing there helpless and knowing exactly what to do until the ambulance arrives.”
Kerry’s warm, down-to-earth approach to teaching has its roots in her own difficult school days.
Struggling with what she now believes was undiagnosed dyslexia, she felt that most of her teachers never really saw her, and at one point her attendance dropped to just 20%. The exception was her French teacher, Mrs Harrison, who gave her time and made her feel she mattered, a memory that shapes the way Kerry runs every course today.
Kerry said: “I remember what it felt like to dread being somewhere and feel like people had already made their minds up about me. I also remember the difference one teacher made just by giving me her time.
That’s why I care so much about how people feel in my training room. If you’re relaxed enough to ask the ‘silly question’, you’re far more likely to remember what to do when it really counts.”
Her sessions also tackle the topics many shy away from, including the embarrassment that stops people giving CPR to women. Around one in three people in the UK say they would be afraid to perform CPR on a woman in public (St John Ambulance, 2024), and while 70% of people have learned first aid in some form, only 41% feel confident helping someone who is unresponsive and not breathing (British Red Cross).
The free Restart a Heart CPR and defibrillator session takes place on Saturday 21 November 2026 at [10:00] and [13:00] at White Rose Training, Unit 2A, Red Lane Mill, Sunny Bank Mills, 83 to 85 Town Street, Farsley, Leeds, LS28 5UJ. Places are limited and can be booked online.
