Astoria nightclub receives bleed kit as part of "Control the Bleed" campaign
A local mum and campaigner has donated a bleed control kit to Astoria nightclub as part of the “Control the Bleed” campaign, launched following the death of Daniel Baird.
Sharon Holland is supporting the campaign spearheaded by Lynne Baird MBE, whose son Daniel died after being stabbed outside a pub in Birmingham in 2017. He died shortly after arriving at hospital from catastrophic blood loss.
The campaign argues that if bleed control kits had been available at the scene, Daniel’s life may have been saved.
Ms Holland has personal experience of losing a child too soon. Her daughter, Chloe, took her own life in February 2023 after a year of abuse by her partner. He was later jailed for 41 months for coercive and controlling behaviour.
The campaign in memory of the 23-year-old mother-of-one is called “Her Name Was Chloe Holland” and was unanimously supported by Portsmouth City Councillors in November 2023.
Sharon Holland is now campaigning for changes to the law, arguing that perpetrators of coercive and controlling behaviour should face manslaughter charges when their actions lead to a victim taking their own life.
She said she wanted to support Lynne’s campaign following an 18-month friendship with her, adding that only grieving mothers “know what you’re going through”.
She stressed the importance of bleed kits, saying that Portsmouth is not immune from knife crime, violent incidents and accidents in the nightlife scene.
“You’ll never be able to stop knife crime completely, but at least we can provide these if anything happens.’ she said.
Nat Pietraszko, deputy manager of Astoria, said the bleed kits will make the club will make it safer for patron in and outside the club.
He said that due to metal detectors and inspections the likelihood of knife crime inside the club is low, but “outside the club anyone can pick up a knife”.
Arron Din, general manager of the club, agreed that bleed kits should be mandatory for all nightlife venues.
He said that cost and a lack of awareness are the main barriers to venues having them, particularly given the current economic pressures on the late-night industry, adding that “because the awareness isn’t there people don’t see the cost as important enough to justify”.
Hannah Moran, of Sentinel Security, described Astoria as one of the safest venues in Portsmouth due to routine searches, metal detectors and wands “to make sure when you’re in the venue it’s the safest it can be”.
She added that staff will receive training to use the bleed kit, while noting that security staff are already fully first aid trained.