TAVISTOCK Cricket Club has teamed up with a local construction company and a charity to install a public access defibrillator at its clubhouse on the edge of moor.

The club on the edge of the town on Whitchurch Down hopes the defibrillator will be used by both club members and also passers-by to resuscitate anyone suffering a cardiac arrest

Chairman Dave Manning explained that local construction company Peninsula Custom Construction had been doing work on the clubhouse and offered to help fund the defibrillator.

It has also been funded by Jay’s Aim, a charity founded in memory of a young man called Jay who died suddenly of a cardiac arrest, in a bid to drive down deaths in young and apparently healthy people. It is estimated that 12 people below the age of 35 die every week in th UK from undiagnosed heart conditions, many of them with no prior symptoms. Seconds count in the bid to save lives, which is where the debrillator comes in. Dave explained: ‘It is quite an interesting thing how it came about. I saw a piece on TV on BBC Spotlight about Jay’s Aim and the next day I was speaking to Ian Grey at Peninsula, who is a member of the club and he said he had been on an emergency first aid course and said: ‘I think it would be a good thing for the cricket club to have. They said would like to get on for a board and support it and we could supply it to you at a better rate than we could buy it ourselves.’ Jay’s Aim also helped fund the debrillator.

‘They try and provide equipment that can help anyone; our club on the edge of the moor and hundreds of people use that area for dog walkingng and so if was seen as a benefit to the wider public, as well as club members.

‘Peninsula are a local construction company so they wanted to support us.

‘ We have had some rebuilding work to improve our facilities at the club, which Peninsula have carried out.’