Teenage Oldham pair honoured following Arena attack heroics

On the day after the first anniversary of the Manchester bombing, two Oldham air cadets were honoured by Royalty for their bravery at the Arena.

Zak Warburton, of Turf Pit Lane, Oldham, and Georgia Blakeney, of Taunton Road in Tameside, are both members of Oldham Air Training Corps.

They were presented with Royal Humane Society Testimonials on Vellum by the Society’s President, Princess Alexander, who afterwards talked to them about what they had done.

The presentation took place at the Society’s Annual Court at London’s Haberdasher’s Hall yesterday (Wednesday).

Georgia and Zak, who are both 18, were on first aid duty at the Manchester Arena when the bomb exploded.

They immediately went into action to help the wounded and have been credited by paramedics for saving at least one life.

Georgia treated a couple with severe head injuries and lacerations to the legs by applying pressure and dressings.

She then went to the first aid room where she treated a man who had been inside the foyer when the bomb exploded.

His ear had been amputated and he had arterial bleeding so she applied pressure to his wound.

Zak was on the scene immediately after the explosion and, not knowing whether there were further bombs yet to explode he triaged casualties, covered the dead and provided comfort to relatives.

He helped treat one man whose lower leg had been amputated and applied a tourniquet.

Then he went to assist Georgia who was working alone.

She was applying pressure to the neck of a man who was close to death and they worked together to staunch the bleeding until paramedics arrived.

The paramedics later said that their initial actions and calm professionalism had saved the man’s life.

After the award ceremony in London, Andrew Chapman, Secretary of the Royal Humane Society, added his own personal praise for what Georgia and Zak (pictured above with their families) had done.

“They showed professionalism way beyond their years,” he said.

“Despite the horror of the situation they stayed calm and focused on helping as many people as possible.

"Thanks to them at least one life was saved.

"They richly deserve the awards they are to receive. They were true heroes.”

The roots of the Royal Humane Society stretch back more than two centuries.

The Queen is its patron and its president is Princess Alexandra.

It is the premier national body for honouring bravery in the saving of human life.

It was founded in 1774 by two of the day's eminent medical men, William Hawes and Thomas Cogan.

Their primary motive was to promote techniques of resuscitation.

However, as it emerged that numerous people were prepared to put their own lives at risk to save others, the awards scheme evolved, and today a variety of awards are made depending on the bravery involved.

The Society also awards non health care professionals who perform a successful resuscitation.

Since it was set up the Society has considered over 87,000 cases and made over 200,000 awards.

The Society is a registered charity which receives no public funding and is dependent on voluntary donations.

It is one of a select number of organisations to recently receive a donation from the Patron’s fund which was set up to acknowledge work done by organisations of which the Queen is the patron to mark her 90^th birthday.