Defibrillators appeal exceeds expectations
Pontefract Civic Society is pleased to announce ongoing success in a public fundraising appeal to purchase, install and maintain an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) on Pontefract Town Hall; a project which has been accepted and supported by Wakefield Council.
Paul Cartwright, chair, said “This project is somewhat left field for a civic society, though it delivers on our strategy raising our awareness in the town and a safer place to live, whilst connecting with residents and businesses to ensure their community ‘owns’ the project. I must praise my vice chair, Phil Cook, a former St John Ambulance officer for working hard on this very successful project”.
Only rarely is the ambulance service able to attend and provide defibrillation early enough, and the best way of ensuring prompt defibrillation is for someone nearby to use an AED to deliver the shock that may save a life. We set ourselves a target of £2,550, which has been exceeded beyond all expectations, and we’ve currently raised £5,833, with more to come! Two major fundraising events were hosted by corporate members who own bars in Pontefract, Cartner’s at No.5 arranged an auction raising £2,659, and The Old Grocers held a music night through the Little Bellows Entertainment Agency and a raffle which raised £480 supplemented that night by £120 from Blondies Brewhouse & Bakes, added to that there’s been a meat raffle by Pickering’s of Pontefract (£524), a dinner party & raffle by our members, Bernie Weston (£301.50), cake sales and guessing the beans in a jar at Salter Row Coffee Lounge (£100.31), and the Cartner’s also had guess the sweets in a jar at the Liquorice Festival (£157).
Phil Cook, vice chair, said “Humbled and blown away is all I can say for how the community has pulled together with businesses, musicians, community groups and individuals contributing in so many ways to our fundraising appeal. We set what we hoped was an achievable target, and we’ve smashed it. We’d also sought the support of Wakefield Council’s planning and conservation team in order to site our first AED on the town hall, which will be added to the online “Circuit” the national register for such devices. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to all those involved so far, who will undoubtedly go on to save someone’s life as the person’s chance of survival decreases by around 10% with every minute that defibrillation from an AED is delayed”.
Further donations have come from KLH Craft Fair bucket collection (£160) Andrew Lubelski’s ukulele busking with Ukembe and the Barnsdale Hood (£29.96 with more gigs to come), our member Castleford & Pontefract Lions Club (£250), Five Towns Golf Day, also Ruth Cairns a member of the public did a bric-a-brac sale (£305), and Five Towns Golf Day donated £250. Prizes for various raffles have been donated from a whole host of locations including Pomfret Gallery, Pontefract Art Club, House of Ales, Kayla’s Kandy, Michelles Flowers, Inline Kitchens, HeadHunters, T.D. Events Ltd., The Hair Lounge and Hale Civic Society.
We will be announcing the other amounts raised in the next few days, but we are able to announce now that we are looking at the possibility of a third defibrillator in the town centre, such has been the success of this project.
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