A VILLAGE community has welcomed a potentially life-saving yellow box.

Briantspuddle Village Hall hosted a special launch event to welcome the arrival of its Community Public Access Defibrillator (cPAD).

The piece of equipment was supplied by the Community Heartbeat Trust with support from the parish council and village hall committee as well as financial assistance from the Partnership for Older People’s Programme (Dorset).

The launch event included a two-hour defibrillator awareness session in the village hall where local residents received vital first aid advice.

There was also a short ceremony to officially launch the scheme.

The cPAD is housed in a yellow high visibility cabinet outside the main entrance to Briantspuddle’s village hall and contains an AED – Automated External Defibrillator.

When directed to it by the ambulance service this equipment will enable any member of the public to provide immediate life saving assistance to someone suffering from sudden cardiac arrest.

Parish councillor Sarah Lowman said: “As a rural parish we are well aware of the distances that the emergency services must travel to reach our residents and once aware of the availability of AEDs, the parish council felt that this was one simple step that they could take to benefit of residents.

“I would like to thank the Partnership for Older People’s Programme for their financial support and the Community Heartbeat Trust for supplying the equipment and training.”

Chairman of the Briantspuddle village hall committee Trevor Poole said: “As a focal point of our village the committee felt that the hall was the most easily identified location for the cPAD, as with the wide range of events held at the hall the presence of this important equipment will soon be known to a wide range of residents.”

Vickie Jaskow, from the Community Heartbeat Trust, said: “We have been very pleased to support another community in installing this life saving equipment, the benefits of having AEDs immediately accessible within communities is now well documented.

“I would encourage any village or community group wishing to follow Briantspuddle’s example to get in touch with us through our website.”

For more information about the Community Heartbeat Trust visit communityheartbeat.org.uk The awareness session in Briantspuddle was led by Catherine Mackie of Tallowood Training Solutions.