Staff and governors at St Anne's Fulshaw CE Primary School were celebrating this week as their defibrillator officially went 'live' with the North West Ambulance Service. It is currently the only defibrillator available 24 hours a day in Wilmslow and is sited on the outside wall of the school, just inside the car park on Nursery Lane.
Headteacher, Clare Daniel said 'Last year I applied to the British Heart Foundation to be a Heartstart school which entailed making a commitment to training all the children in the school in first aid and basic CPR through a rolling programme of sessions. In return we were provided with a free defibrillator. We are indebted to one of our parents, Liz Parris, who has taken on the lead role for the programme and has already started to train our children during the summer term.
"Having the defibrillator in school meant that it was available during school hours but sadly not for the rest of the year, and as a school we felt very strongly that it was a resource that should be shared with the community. So we began a year of fundraising to pay for the box and installation - this required funds in excess of £1500!
"Children visited businesses on Chapel Lane, and the Wing Wah, Hair by Marion and the Co-operative Funeral Care were kind enough to give a donation to our appeal. Families, friends, community and Church members all gave very generously and some of our children who attend St Anne's Church organised a cake sale on Mother's Day to boost the total. We finally reached our target amount in the summer term. The paperwork was completed over the summer holiday and the defibrillator is now fully operational.
"We are so proud of being able to provide this resource and incredibly lucky to count so many people who worked together to make this a reality as friends of our school."
Photo: (l-r) Nicky Cathery, (Chair of Governors), Clare Daniel (Headteacher), Daniel Parris and Isabel Cathery (cake sale organisers and pupils at the school), Meryl Spencer (St Anne's Church) and Liz Parris (Heartstart leader and parent at the school).
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