Every year thousands of people die needlessly from cardiac arrest and somebody suffering a cardiac arrest will die within approximately 8 minutes.

Due to our location on the north edge of the Cotswolds, the Ambulance Service cannot reach the village in less than 15 minutes.

As many of you know, a group of volunteers, with the help of the local ambulance service, started up the defibrillation group 4 years ago to be Village Community First Responders in the event of a 999 callout to someone having chest pains or difficulty in breathing.

25 trained volunteers are on call 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year with the aim of being at the scene of the emergency well within 8 minutes (usually within 1 - 4 minutes). Each of the volunteers has been trained to administer basic life support and to use the defibrillator: the only way a fibrillating heart can be restarted, and it has to be administered within minutes.

As a group we have been called out 50 times over the last 4 years and are seen as a valuable asset to the village.

We can save lives!

In order for the volunteers to support the village properly we do need to:

• Pay for our pagers (the way the Ambulance Service alerts us to the emergency). This costs £160 a year at present and we hope to acquire further pagers this year.
• Build an established base for the defibrillator in the village. Although we have kindly been given a free site by the Village Hall Committee, the cost of building and insulating our Defibrillator from heat and cold is £1,000.
• Buy a more up-to-date defibrillator at a cost of £2,000.
• Purchase lightweight DayGlow high- visibility sleeved jackets for our Responders.
• Pay our general running costs, including purchase of training equipment and spares, stationery, hiring of hall for training, assessment, and updates.

Dave Brown, from Grump Street, and a few of his friends are cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats from September 1st. Clearly they are all going through a mid life crisis, but whilst they do, they have all chosen to raise money for causes close to their heart. Dave has chosen to support the Defib Group.

The trip will take 10 days, averaging 93 miles a day, and given they are all past their athletic best (the wrong side of 40) it’s going to be quite a challenge. Please give what you can to support this local fundraising effort.

To support Dave, you can either:

1. Click on the Pay Pal Link
2. Complete a sponsorship form in the Village Shop, Red Lion or Howard Arms