A SCOUT whose quick thinking saved his dad’s life has been honoured with a special bravery award.

The Scouting Association presented the award to 12 Scouts who saved people’s lives in Britain, including 15-year-old Joseph Slade, a pupil at St Birinus School, Didcot.

When Joseph’s father Jon, 44, started choking on crackling from a hog roast at a party in Sutton Courtenay, his son leapt to the rescue and performed the first aid Heimlich Manoeuvre.

Joseph, of Bear Lane, North Moreton, said: “It was all quite fast. He was trying to signal people to do it, but people thought he was joking.

“I just got up behind him, put my arms just under his ribcage, and squeezed a couple of times. It came shooting out, and he just leant over on the ground and I kept hitting his back.”

He added: “It is one of those things you hear about and see on TV. You never think you are going to have to use first aid, but you do.”

The intervention came after years of first aid training at Beavers, Cubs, and Scouts, of which Joseph has been a member since the age of six. He currently is an Explorer Scout with 1st Clifton Hampden and Burcot Sea Scouts.

The Chief Scout, explorer Bear Grylls, said: “Joseph has shown great bravery, and his act is an inspiration to many. Scouts train for these moments.

“I am so proud that when it mattered, he showed great Scouting spirit.”

Joseph’s mum Annetta, 40, said: “We are so proud of him. Jon was really choking — he couldn’t talk, he couldn’t communicate, he couldn’t breathe. He tapped one guy in front of him, but he thought he was joking. Joseph just got up and sorted him out.”

Other recipients of the award included a 13-year-old Scout who needed hospital treatment after rescuing a friend who had fallen through a frozen lake, and a 17-year-old Scout who paddled out to sea on a body board to rescue a drowning fisherman.