Defibrillator training sessions to be held at Mucky Duck in Rudgwick

Robin Shepherd, a director of The Defib Centre in nearby Loxwood, which specialises in the supply and training of Automated External Defibrillators in the UK, has donated one of the machines to be housed in Tisman’s Common’s Mucky Duck.

With permission from the landlord, the unit will sit in an unlocked cabinet just inside the bar area for everybody to use if necessary.

They are running the first CPR and AED awareness training session for locals this Wednesday evening, followed by a series of further training sessions on Saturday mornings once the residents of Tisman’s Common and Rudgwick are made aware of its availability.

“Although we have an AED at home and in the office, being aware of the compelling statistics, and that the principle age range of heart attack/ cardiac arrest victims is of the pub going age, we decided to donate an AED to our local pub, not just for the use of fellow drinkers but very much the community at large,” Robin said.

“Having just moved in to Tisman’s Common, all of four miles from Plaistow, this is the first time we have been able to access a pub on foot, and find our way easily home in over ten years, and so find we are spending many a pleasant evenings there.”

There are more than 2,000 deaths in the UK every week for sudden cardiac arrests, with more than 80 per cent of them occurring outside of a hospital environment.

If an AED is available within the first five minutes of an attack, the chance of survival can go up from less than five per cent to greater than 70 per cent.

For more information visit the Defib Centre’s website.