Wellesbourne Co-op hosts new public defibrillator

Wellesbourne Co-operative Food store manager Bill McGrath, wth Max Down of the Lions club, Cllr Geoff Rose, Cllr David Close, Co-operative area manager Sam Buxton and Rob Hammond.

The £2,000 device was bought by the Wellesbourne and District Lions Club and installed in the village’s Co-operative food store on Tuesday, following the donation by the Heart of England Co-operative Society.

The money came from the society’s Helping Hearts awards scheme, in which the society donates a percentage of profits to charities and worthy causes across its trading area.

Max Down, honorary secretary of the Wellesbourne Lions, said: “Without the award, it would clearly have taken a while longer to raise the same amount. As we now have the cash, we can devote our time and energy to raising funds for the second defibrillator sooner than we thought.”

The club has supported several defibrillator and first response teams in Wellesbourne and surrounding villages, including in Kineton, Barford and Ettington.

The Community Heartbeat Trust recommends that rural communities more than five minutes out of reach of an ambulance should keep their own defibrillator for public access. Data from the charity suggests the chance of survival following the use of a defibrillator increases by 50 per cent.