A MOTHER and daughter have received prestigious honours after jointly dedicating 74 years to St John Ambulance.

Kim White, 32, has been invested as a serving sister of the Order of St John, an honour approved by the Queen. And mother Moya White, 61, was given an award by Halstead Town Council for her dedication to making a difference in her local community.

Moya White has run the Halstead unit of St John for years and taught first aid skills to hundreds of people. Her daughter, who is engaged to St John member Kev Brock, has been a member for 24 years.

The pair, of Paynter’s Terrace, Halstead, are also first responders, who can be called to help suspected heart attack victims before ambulance crews arrive.

Moya White, a part-time teacher and assessor for St John, said the award was a complete surprise. She said: “To receive such an honour for doing something I have always loved makes it even more special.”

Mrs White, who underwent chemotherapy and major surgery for oesophageal cancer last year, joined a central London division of St John at 11. She moved to Essex in 1973 and met her husband, Tom, at the Halstead unit.

He died after suffering a heart attack, aged 51, while on first aid duty at a Wakes Colne motocross event 15 years ago.

Mrs White, who still provides first aid at the motocross, said: “I have the comfort of knowing his St John colleagues did everything they could to save him. So he didn’t die needlessly due to a lack of first aid, as so many others do.”

Mother and daughter have attended countless public events, including fetes, fun runs, and the Stanley Hall opera season, in Halstead.

Mrs White, whose son Mark, 30, from Great Yeldham, is also a member of Halstead St John, said it was good to know she was passing life-saving skills on to other people.

Kim, who works as a nanny, has taken over her mother’s role in training the Halstead unit’s younger members, aged five to 18.

For more information about Essex St John, call 01245 265678 or visit www.sja.org.uk/essex