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

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

When Joseph’s father Jon, 44, started choking on crackling from a hog roast at a party in Sutton Courtenay, his son leaped to the rescue and performed the Heimlich manoeuvre to dislodge it.

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’s one of those things you hear about and see on TV. You never think you’re going to have to use first aid, but you do.”

The split-second intervention and calm thinking 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 the 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 to train for these moments.

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

Joseph’s mother Annetta, 40, said: “We’re 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 who needed hospital treatment after rescuing a friend who had fallen through a frozen lake, and a 17-year-old who paddled out to sea on a body board to rescue a drowning fisherman.

didcot@oxfordmail.co.uk