An emergency doctor from Bucks was awarded a royal volunteering prize for his life-long dedication to helping others with St John’s Ambulance Service.
Dr Luke Tester, originally from Seer Green, has been volunteering with St John Ambulance since his teens.
The former Dr Challoner’s Grammar School pupil was awarded the first national Platinum Champion award by the Royal Voluntary Service in honour of their patron Queen Elizabeth.
Queen Elizabeth is also the Sovereign Head of the Order of St John which is St John Ambulance‘s parent charity – the charity Dr Tester has volunteered during his medical school and continues to do so up to 1000 hours per year while balancing his job as an A&E doctor in Brighton.
Dr Tester was invited to celebrate at special lunch in London on June 5 together with Charles and Camilla, and he was featured on the BBC’s One Show as one of the first ever winners of the prize.
Saying cheers to the people who cheer-up others!
— Royal Voluntary Service (@RoyalVolService) June 7, 2022
Just one example of the amazing #CheersForVolunteers moments that happened across the UK for @togethercoalit's #ThankYouDay. Featuring 70 of our remarkable Platinum Champions ✨#BigJubileeLunch pic.twitter.com/24fiXlFTZW
Dr Tester said: “It was an amazing opportunity to meet volunteers from all over the country, all over the place, and to celebrate their achievements, and of course to meet the royal family and have a lovely day.
“It’s a real privilege and an honour, totally unexpected and totally out of the blue. It was a phenomenal day, and I’m honoured to have been nominated let alone received it."
His journey with St John Ambulance began before Dr Tester knew medicine was his calling.
He said: “I joined St John Ambulance when I was 16. I was looking for a volunteering opportunity, for something new to help challenge me and develop me.
“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do in my life, and I was considering going into health care. I thought St John might be a way to explore that. It has captured me, and inspired me for a career in health care.
“There’s a great symbiotic relationship between the St John and the NHS."
Since he has been “fortunate” to get leadership, clinical and training opportunities in his volunteering role he wouldn’t get at work, Dr Tester is doing his best to “pay it forward.”
On top of a handful of other advocacy roles, Dr Tester is a trustee of a loneliness charity Together Co.
It was also volunteering where Dr Tester met his future fiancé, a detective and fellow St John volunteer and University of Exeter alumnus Jodie.
He manages to make time for volunteering because it’s something he loves passionately, Dr Tester said.
“I don’t know how he became so amazing. I must have taken a wrong baby at the hospital,” Karen Tester, his mom, laughed.
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