Excuse my ignorance, but what is Compeed. Sounds like I don't carry any LOL.

Jelly-like things you stick on like a plaster. They absorb any excess fluid from the blister and stay on until they fall off. Also good for prevention, on 'hot-spots' - applied early enough they stop blisters forming.
Sooooo many times better than elastoplast for blisters.

Speaking of the knowledge of first aid being more important than a kit.....

I'm the family qualified first aider and Bob has some elementary knowledge. On our recent holiday I managed to split my head open, face completely full of streaming blood etc. It looked quite dramatic going by how many people rushed over to me while I kept saying 'It's OK, it's only a flesh wound'. I knew it wasn't serious by the level of pain, and I knew that head wounds usually bleed alarmingly, however I had taken quite a good crack so I had to sit down, apply pressure (my hand) and then talk a very worried-looking Bob through the symptoms and signs of concussion and I got him to check my pupils and make sure I was 'alert' at regular intervals.

Afterwards I thought about how ridiculous it all was; had the blow knocked me unconscious then the 'speaking medic' wouldn't have been able to advise him. Apart from any other first-aiders around the harbour he would have been in trouble as we were on a tiny Greek Island with one villagette, no hospital and probably no doctor.

WOW! I started this because my ancient little bag had finally split revealing stuff I had had for years so I went to replace it. I thought I would just grab a pro kit off the shelf but realised as I said above I should give it a bit more thought.

Well as usual the knowledgeable people on this site have come up trumps and I shall endeavour to put together a new one with the info.
One thing I always carry that nobody has mentioned is Rennies which have been a God send at times, for others as much as myself.

Thanks for all the info
Bryan

Jeannie, How rude, I forgot to ask how your hols were.

Tony, thanks for the information I will put an order in this week.

One or two differences in my kit: I use moleskin (self adhesive): I dislike having my socks ruined by the unshiftable gunk which oozes out from the sides of Compeed patches, then sticks to your socks. Upon removal of sock, off comes Compeed. Shame, it's a great idea. Zinc oxide tape is great stuff but it tends to wreck socks too. I've had to wring blood out of my socks, then after a good wash, an application of moleskin had me up & running again in no time. A little pot of water purifier & neutraliser. Hydrolite and salt in summer (less need if you use a sports drink, but most of these taste grim...get some cool-aid!) Antiseptic powder is a good idea, and can be used in any big wounds to help clotting. Fresh ash from anything properly combustible will do the trick too.
...I'm kind of thinking out loud here...
The other thing which lives in my pocket is a Body Shop factor 35 vitamin E lip balm.
Paper & pencil. Mobile.

Is there any way of removing the Compeed gunk from socks? I now have a small pile of gunked socks and am reluctant to throw them away.

Not sure...you could try cellulose thinners, but that won't do the man-made fibres in the socks any good at all. Or the wool. I've even tried cutting out the 'rolls' of glue, but it's a waste of time. Meths I don't think is strong enough.
This is why moleskin is so much better. Don't get me wrong, it too leaves small white glue deposits in your socks, but nothing compared to the filthy landfill left by Compeed. Scholl went through a bad patch with their moleskin a few years ago, when they switched to a clear, thinner adhesive. It was rubbish, and didn't really stick, but now they're back to the white stuff which works.
Of course, the answer is to find your ideal boot. I'm lucky enough that I have, so my blistering days are largely over. I think my record was nine on each foot. Which is why, if I'd known how perfectly comfortable my Scarpa SL's would be, I'd have gladly paid a grand for them.
I was taught about moleskin by a Royal Marine. He swore blind that it would work, as he put a pin into the inch-wide blister on the back of my heel. It did too, within half a mile it felt like there was nothing wrong with my feet at all.
Compeed works out very expensive when you trash a pair of socks each time you use it.

Fascinating stuff. Have just done a first aid course here in Western Australia (two days) which was most interesting (and rather more physical than I had imagined, in the sense of getting down on the floor, then up again, etc., which revealed my age-induced lack of flexibility) It really did not cover some things of interest to walkers (I can't remember blisters getting a mention) but I feel happier for having done it.
However, as someone mentioned in this thread, it was aimed at dealing with a situation when the ambulance was only half an hour or so away. In a lot of Aussie bushwalking situations, this ain't going to happen, because you may be 50 miles from anywhere and you don't carry a phone because it will not work and there's no ambulance anyway.
Having to carry a couple of (relatively heavy) elasticated bandages in case of snakebite is also a bore, but necessary, especially if you walk alone (just about any snake you encounter is venomous, and a decent bite will kill you). Mercifully, such events are rare, but they DO happen.
On the subject of Compeed, try a magic tape called Fixomull (or maybe Fix-O-Mull). It's thin, extremely tenacious in the sticking department and very good indeed for hot spots/blisters if applied early. I think it's from Germany, and should thus be available in the UK. It's not cheap, but you don't need yards of the stuff and Aussie chemists tend to sell it by the metre.
As for other items, I tend to carry too much, but some decent safety pins can be useful, along with a selection of differently-shaped Elastoplasts (fabric type, the plastic ones are useless) and a range of painkillers.

Compeed comes off with simple white spirit or turps, er... usually, and most of it will wash off eventually in the usual wash.

I've never used the compeed but have used the savlon blister plasters and they didn't last 5 minutes before coming off and making things worse. Zinc Oxide is still the only thing I've found that actually sticks to feet. Is there a dramatic difference between compeed and the other brands, or do I just have spectacularly slippy feet?

I'd say Compeed is pretty adhesive. The key in my experience is to make sure your foot is dry before application than follow the instructions and press it into place for a minute or more before letting go. A layer of zinc oxide tape over the top will make sure it doesn't go walkies.

Having said that, I mostly seem to end up giving it to other people.

There is a Scholl foot deodorant/antiperspirant which I have used with quite good results. Clean, dry feet=comfortable feet usually... Helps avoid blisters too. It may seem obvious, but giving your feet a really good wash, just with ordinary soap, will do wonders for adhesion of whatever you want to stick on them.
Before you try sticking anything on your feet, use one of those antiseptic wipes to get any oil off the surface of the skin.

It really is worth looking after your feet. They stop your legs from fraying.

The problem with that is, if you are like me Paddy, and have really sweaty feet. If your feet do get sweaty then there's not a lot you can do to stop the blisters.

That said, I have invested in some of those lovely SmartWool socks. They do the business for me and take the moisture (ie sweat) away nicely.

I'd suggest you give that Scholl spray a go then. I do have very sweaty feet, in fact very soft skin as a result. I get blisters on my hands just by mowing the lawn.
Now what I really want are some long Bridgedale socks...I do have some smartwool socks, and they are very good too. It's quite amusing that with all today's technology, there really isn't anything to beat wool. It'll absorb 30% of it's own weight of water without feeling wet. Amazing stuff.
The boots make a huge difference, obviously. If I'd gone to have some bespoke boots made, I very much doubt they'd be any more comfortable then my Scarpa SL's. Honestly.

A good wheeze is to hold the compeed against your hot mug before use especialy in winter.

Lots of good info here. The only thing I would add is a ventolin inhaler (for me if I need it, or for anyone else who might) and lots of gaffer tape - a couple of wraps around each walking pole if I'm backpacking, or a couple of wraps around flask/water bottle/tent pole repair sleeve etc. Oh, and a whistle as well.

Gaffer tape - it's the best...

Obviously, for bigger trips in remote areas we take correspondingly more kit. One longer trip in the Himalayas a few years back I had enough to do an appendicectomy if needed! A little over the top, but I was a bit paranoid at the time :-)

Most of the time though all that gets used are the painkillers and the odd plaster or compeed. The Scholl version of compeed appears to be nearly useless in my experience so far by the way.

I do carry some big sutures with enormous scary needles but they're for repairing kit not people! If a wound is done outdoors it needs cleaning properly before suturing anyway.

A couple of years ago on the C2C I got a blister and a pasing backpacker who was a medic or something similar put this amazing gel stuff on my foot and a plaster. You could almost see it healing it was so good.
Anybody any idea what it was. I have tried in vain to buy it.

It was a sheet 3" by 2" like a slice off a jelly, blue/green about an eight of an inch thick?

Ben - I carry an inhaler for myself but I have been warned never to give it to anyone else as that is 'prescribing' and I'm not qualified to do that (per St John's Ambulance) and I could be sued.
You, of course, ARE qualified to prescribe :)

However, if I see someone having an obvious asthma attack ( I know what they look like) I won't hesitate to offer mine rather than search for theirs as it could save a life - and if the person ISN'T having an asthma attack it won't do them any harm at all....