A NEW defibrillator has been installed next to the No 10 Café in Avoncliff after a donation from The Friends of Bradford on Avon Community Healthcare.

The defibrillator was installed last Thursday by Burbidge Electrical at the train station car park.

This is the ninth defibrillator that The Friends have funded in the area with other machines in Wingfield, Westwood and Winsley, as well as at the Health Centre and the Rugby Club.

David Pippett, on behalf of the Avoncliff community, said: “We’re extremely grateful to The Friends of Bradford on Avon Community Healthcare for their kind donation. A defibrillator in Avoncliff is hugely important – we are a relatively remote location with difficult access, so gaining swift emergency support can be problematic.

“With huge amounts of tourists and visitors participating in leisure activities along the Kennet & Avon canal, this is the ideal spot to provide lifesaving equipment. We would also like to thank Burbidge Electrical, who kindly carried out the installation free of charge.”

Further funding has been given to Bradford Town Council for three more defibrillators to be sited at St Margaret’s Hall, the HUB@BA15 and the Mount Pleasant Centre.

John Cottle, chairman of The Friends of Bradford on Avon Community Healthcare, said: “We have been pleased to provide funding for nine machines to be sited in and around our town and look forward to receiving listed building consent very soon from Wiltshire Council so that the three centrally located installations can be completed.

“We’re delighted that Avoncliff now has a defibrillator fitted in an area which is rather isolated and which is an extremely popular visitor attraction as well as for people living in the hamlet and on the canal.”

The importance of community access to defibrillators was raised by MPs last week who have called for a law forcing schools to have defibrillators. MPs were told that 30,000 heart attacks occur outside hospital every year, but fewer than one in ten victims survive.