FOR four generations the Lewis family has been dedicated to the work of St John Ambulance - and great-great grandfather Victor Lewis continues to carry on the family tradition.

FOR four generations the Lewis family has been dedicated to the work of St John Ambulance - and great-great grandfather Victor Lewis continues to carry on the family tradition.

Victor joined the Fakenham Division of St John Ambulance aged 18 and

spent more than 45 years as an active member of the organisation.

He continues to support St John's medical volunteers at events such as the Royal Norfolk Show, and for his recent 90th birthday raised �450 for the charity by asking for donations instead of presents.

He said: “I joined because I wanted to help people. It was

a worthwhile hobby. The greatest satisfaction was that while I was doing something I enjoyed I was helping people who needed help because they were sick or injured.”

The family's connection to St John Ambulance began in the 1920s when Victor's father Horace Lewis was one of a group of people to start up the Fakenham Division of St John Ambulance following an accident where a man broke his leg in the town and there was no doctor or ambulance nearby to help.

Ever since, countless members of the Lewis family have followed in Horace's footsteps, and at one point three generations of the family were all serving members at the same time.

Victor's involvement began when he was in his teens in the 1930s and he acted as a patient for volunteers to practice their first aid skills on.

He officially joined the Fakenham Division as an active member in 1936 and left in 1982.

During more than four decades with St John Ambulance he worked his way up to being superintendent of the Fakenham Division.

Among his most memorable duties were standing guard as the late King George VI's

body was transported from Sandringham to Wolferton Station for its return to London, and when he was among St John Ambulance members inspected by the Queen Mother when she visited Sennowe Park in the 1960s.

He was also invested into the Order of St John for his many years of dedicated service to St John Ambulance.

He is a member of the St John Fellowship, whose members support the medical work of St John Ambulance members.

Victor's late wife Adelaide Lewis was awarded the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal for services to St John Ambulance, and was also invested into the Order of St John.

Their daughter Christabel Lewis, a serving member of the Fakenham Division, met Pope Jean Paul II when she did first aid duty at the Vatican during the 1983 Holy Year.

The �450 Victor raised from his birthday celebrations in December and his own donation will go towards sponsoring nurse Marlene Katanasho at the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital, based in East Jerusalem. Nurse Katanasho has been sponsored by St John Norfolk since joining the hospital in 1992.

Information about St John Ambulance Norfolk and the

St John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem from 01603 431639

or e-mail countyhq@norfolk.sja.org.uk