Today is the first day of Explore Your Archive, a celebration of archives of all kinds across the nation, organised by the Archives & Records Association for UK & Ireland, and today’s theme is ‘Decisions’.

We all make decisions every day. Some are instinctive (I’m going to wear an extra layer today because the weather has got colder), some are reluctant (I’m going to get out of bed now because I have to), and many of our decisions, like these, are not recorded anywhere. The decisions that are recorded are often the important ones, such as the decision to purchase a house, to get married, to start a new job. These kinds of big and important decisions are evidenced through official paperwork.

When the St John Ambulance Association was established in 1877, the Central Executive Committee was established to help coordinate and make some of the important decisions regarding its progress. The St John Archive has a collection of of the Committee’s minute books, and they hold a lasting record of its discussions and resulting decisions right from its first meeting.

The Committee meetings were held once a month at the headquarters in St John’s Gate. The minutes are meticulously handwritten (some individuals’ handwriting is easier to decipher than others), and they document decisions made by the Committee as the Association began and developed. Some of the decisions made in the very first meeting include the decision to create a Medical Sub-Committee to coordinate and manage equipment and uniforms for the Association, the decision to appoint Sir Herbert Perrott as Chief Secretary of the Association, the decision to establish Centres of the Association in Worcester, Woolwich, Aldershot, Sevenoaks, London, Oxford, and Chesterfield, and the decision to create lists of surgeons and nurses from selected local London hospitals who would ‘go out to the seat of war if required’ to provide first aid and medical assistance on the battlefield should England go to war.

Here is an example of the minute books.