FALMOUTH life saver Ceinwen Morgans rubbed shoulders with celebrities and royalty last week when she was named the nation’s High Street Hero after coming to the rescue of a pensioner who had suffered a major heart attack.

Ceinwen, the catering team leader at the Princess Pavilion, was nominated for the St John Ambulance Everyday Heroes awards by Sylvia and John Ollerenshaw of Flushing as a thank-you for saving 82-year-old John’s life in November.

The church warden and his wife were at the Pavilion for lunch when he collapsed.

Ceinwen immediately sprang into action and put her recent first aid training into practice by administering CPR for almost 30 minutes until paramedics arrived.

Mr Ollerenshaw is convinced he would not have survived had it not been for Ceinwen’s intervention.

Falmouth Packet:

John Ollerenshaw of Flushing with Ceinwen

The awards ceremony was held at the Lancaster Hotel in London on Wednesday night and was attended by the Countess of Wessex as well as a host of stars including Tess Daly and Dr Dawn Harper.

Since saving Mr Ollernshaw’s life, Ceinwen, 26, has encouraged more people to sign up for first aid training. “It’s really important to learn first aid because if there weren’t people who could act like I did in an emergency, people like John wouldn’t still be here.

“If I didn’t know what I was doing, John would have died before the ambulance arrived. You can’t take it for granted that there will always be somebody around who knows first aid.”

Mr Ollerenshaw has met up with Ceinwen a couple of times since she became his hero.

“If it wasn’t for Ceinwen I definitely wouldn’t be here now,” he said.

“It was her persistence in keeping me going against all the odds that saved my life and I will always be grateful to her for that.”