• Maria Godwell: Fighting to keep the St John cadets from folding.

AFTER 80 years serving Fremantle the local St John cadet branch is being canned.

Its demise at the end of this year is part of a broader move that will see the entire WA St John cadet program disappear.

Managers, cadets and parents are furious and have launched a Facebook campaign and online petition, Save St John Cadets WA.

Head honcho Len Fiori says numbers have almost halved over the past 10 years.

“[Our] aim is to make first aid a part of everyone’s life and the current cadet program only reaches a few hundred young people compared to our goal of thousands,” he says.

He says the axing is not about cost-cutting—the program is heavily supported by the WA government’s cadets program—but about expanding first aid knowledge amongst young people.

The port city branch was WA’s first, established in 1932.

Fremantle manager Maria Godwell says staff were “shocked” to be told “at the end of 2013 the cadet program will be cancelled”, with first aid lessons “transitioned” into school programs.

Ms Godwell says teaching first aid is a “good idea” but cadets learn a broader range of skills.

“It’s not just bandaging or cooking badges,” she says. There’s also radio training and management and leadership skills.

She says St John dropped the ball in promoting the cadet corps to young people. Her branch had taken out a swag of national and state gongs over the past year, none of which had been publicised.

“All the wonderful things our cadets have done have not got any promotion,” she says.

by JENNY D’ANGER