STUDENTS at South Craven School in Cross Hills were among more than 116,000 schoolchildren who took part in a pioneering lifesaving initiative, new figures show.

Free cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training was provided to secondary schools and community groups as part of Restart a Heart Day.

The venture, developed by Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) in 2014, was extended to other parts of the UK for the first time in October.

And data just released reveals that volunteers passed on their skills to 116,734 pupils.

South Craven was one of 119 schools in Yorkshire which joined-in the scheme.

Instructors used an interactive DVD and manikins to demonstrate the techniques to youngsters.

"Over 30,000 people suffer cardiac arrests outside of hospital in the UK every year," said a school spokesman.

"If this happens in front of a bystander who starts CPR immediately, before the arrival of an ambulance, the patient's chances of survival double."

YAS said it was delighted with the success of the programme, which was staged in partnership with organisations including the Resuscitation Council (UK), British Heart Foundation, St John Ambulance and British Red Cross.

Jason Carlyon, YAS resuscitation manager, said: "Thanks to our partnership with other agencies, we have now provided CPR training to 51,000 children in Yorkshire schools alone on Restart a Heart Day over the past three years.

"We were delighted to share our concept and support the roll-out of the event to all ambulance trusts nationally this year, ensuring that thousands more youngsters learned this vital skill."

Sara Askew, for the British Heart Foundation, said the response to this year's event had been phenomenal.

But she warned that more work needed to be done.

"It was the most successful Restart a Heart Day yet and thanks go to all the amazing volunteers who gave up their time to support it," she said.

"However, there is still much more to be done to help improve out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival rates in the UK, with less than one in ten people surviving."

She urges secondary schools to apply for free Call Push Rescue training kits to help more students learn CPR.

Visit bhf.org.uk/cpr for further details.

Next year's Restart a Heart Day will take place on October 16 and registration opens in February.