Officer helped dad with arm injury

A FORMER police officer told today how he had given first aid to man who suffered serious arm injuries after gashing himself on a fence around a bowls green.

Chris Cushnahan, who is now treasurer of the Trimley Sports and Social Club, had to climb over the fence that the man had just injured himself on because the gate was locked.

The 38-year-old victim had caught his arm on the fence he had climbed over to recover a ball that had been kicked from the sports club's ground on to the bowls green.

Mr Cushnahan said: “He was in a lot of pain and very agitated. I managed to climb over and give him some oxygen which calmed him down.”

The man had a deep gash of about three to four inches in his arm, but luckily it had missed all his vital veins and arteries.

Mr Cushnahan said: “It was a very, very nasty laceration but it could have been a great deal worse.”

The bowling green is not part of the sports club - but Trimley Bowls Club secretary Zena Bamberger said there was no need to climb over the fence.

She said: “We have an agreement with the sports club that we will return any balls that come over the next day - and they will lend people a ball to keep on playing if one does end up there.

“There was no one at the bowls club on Sunday evening when the accident took place - I heard about it the next day. I hope the man is soon better. It sounds very nasty, but I'm not sure exactly what happened. The top of the fence is rounded - it doesn't have spikes at all.”

Firefighters were called to cut the padlock at the bowls club - although Mrs Bamberger said committee members' phone numbers are on a notice outside the club and they all have keys to open the lock.

The ambulance service took the man to Ipswich Hospital because the injury looked very serious at first - but then it was confirmed to be a soft tissue injury.

It is understood that the injuries are now being treated by specialists at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital where medical teams have special expertise in dealing with soft tissue and sports-type injuries. They also have a specialist team that deals with skin grafts.