Congratulations,
you're a superdad!
It's Father's Day! And for the occasion, I caught up with
James Cotter, who lives in Cookham with his wife, Bridget,
two daughters, two hens, two guinea pigs and a cat. James is a superdad – I spoke to him about his passion to lower our carbon footprint, his work as an ambulance service volunteer, and his active lifestyle allowing him to raise money for charity...
Tell me about you and your family...
That's an open question! I am married to Bridget, who works in london only about 1,000m away from where I work – but we are yet to meet for lunch! We have two wonderful girls, age seven and five, and we are all active in our own ways. I have to train hard to keep my nose ahead of Bridget in running, and
she also focuses on duathlons and triathlons – it probably won't surprise those who know us that both our girls, Harriet and Tabitha, have competed in two duathlons so far and done really well. I trained for the London Marathon in
April and other running activities with a fellow Cookham dad, Gary Knight,
and Cookham Running Club. I find it really helps to have others at a training session to ensure I turn up!
What do you do for a living?
I work in London for a Norwegian renewable energy company and I am
currently the project director developing a large offshore wind farm
off the east coast of Britain. I have been in the renewables industry for
over 10 years, and I am passionate about the potential to deliver a change
to traditional generation and lower our carbon footprint. I even drive an
electric car and we have solar pannels on the roof of our house. We all
have to make a change to ensure that we leave a habitable planet for our children and their children, and this is my way of trying to do that.
Why Cookham?
It was an accident really. I spent 10 years rowing (Bridget and I met
rowing at York university), living and working in Marlow, and even though
I sat on the river opposite Cookham church every Saturday and Sunday morning for all that time, I had no idea Cookham even existed. To cut a long story short, we ended up homeless, having sold our house in Windsor, and hadn't found anywhere to buy when Harriet was born, so desparate measures meant we extended our search to rentals and a house in Cookham came up – we took it and have not looked back.
You're a volunteer Community First Responder in the village. Tell me more.
Well, a Community First Responder is a volunteer for the ambulance
service and we are basically the first line of support for all calls that involve
chest pain, unconciousness, breathing difficulties and children, as well as
some falls and bumps. (I cannot emphasise enough that everyone should have
a go at CPR. For every minute without any CPR, the chance of survival drops by 10%.) Anyway... we are based in the local community and get assigned to 999 calls and are on scene within the eight minutes (my record is one minute!) and provide basic life support while the ambulance comes.
Have you always been interested in doing this?
No not at all, I guess this is/was my midlife crisis! I think in today's society we have lost the aluturisum there once was and I felt I was living life for my family and not giving much back to society. I saw a leaflet for this and thought, why not? It has been one of the best and most leveling experiences of my life. It
puts everything in perspecive when you are with a patient helping them –
seeing the fear dropping away form peoples eyes as you help them is the best.
It really gives balance to the stresses that are self-imposed at work and home.
I am a much happier and content person since doing this.
What training did you have to do for it?
The training is in basic life support and is essentially two full-on days split
over a weekend. Once you have completed that, it is one or two shifts on an ambulance or a rapid response vehicle – which is an eye-opener – and a session in the first responder car. Once this is all done, you can double shfit with an
experienced first responder untill you and they are happy you can start lone shifts. There is ongoing training and qualification and also therory sessions and
a great support network if you need it. We desperately need more volunteers - especially in Cookham. If you are interested in potentially becoming a Community First Responder, click
And you've just completed the London Marathon raising money for the Community First Responders, haven't you?
Yes! At the Cookham Running Club Christmas party, there was a draw for the club place at the London Marathon, which I won, so first and foremost, I was running on behalf of Cookham Running Club, but not to miss an opportunity,
I also raised money for the Community First Responders. A full kit costs around £1,200, so I thought I would try to raise 1/3, but everyone has been so generous that I think I have raised nearly £800, which Statkraft are topping up to £1,200.
The Marathon itself was hard, I am not much of a runner and ignored
all the advice and ran how I always run – fast (for me!) for as long as possible
(20 miles) and then the last six took a very long time. What really helped me round was the support and familiar faces of Cookham Running Club in the early miles, and Bridget, Harriet and Tabitha were at the finish and saw me run the last 400m – apparently they were shouting loudly but most of my senses had shut down by then! My sposorship page is still open if anyone feels the urge to part with some cash – – – you never know when you might need a CFR or meet us!
