MORE than 20 volunteers from four villages have been trained to use defibrillators paid for with grant funding from West Devon Borough and Devon County Councils. The lifesaving equipment will be available 24 hours a day at Bere Ferrers, Buckland Monachorum, Postbridge and Hexworthy. Volunteers from each community were presented with the defibrillators by borough council leader and local county councillor, Philip Sanders, last month at Buckland Monachorum. They were then given training on how to use the devices by Simon Knowles and Bob Jeffrey from St John Ambulance. The aim is for the volunteers to pass on the training to other local people so each community has a network of residents who can use the defibrillators in a medical emergency. The devices will be stored at accessible locations in each village in special all-weather boxes which will keep them fully charged.  Cllr Sanders said: 'I'm a great believer in people learning basic life support skills, particularly in remote villages. 'The amount of time you have to save someone's life as a result of intervention is very limited indeed. 'The opportunity to take some positive action by use of a defibrillator, where appropriate, means that a patient has got a much better chance of survival, and survival with a good quality of life, than they would if they had to wait for professional paramedics to arrive which can take up to 20 minutes for some of our more remote locations.' The defibrillators have been paid for through the West Devon Town and Parish (TAP) Fund which is funded by West Devon Borough and Devon County Councils. Devon County Council leader John Hart added: 'Devon County Council is continuing to make funds available to communities to use how they see best. 'This money is available to parish and town councils to spend in ways that will benefit their communities. 'I firmly believe decisions should be made as locally as possible to encourage local accountability and I have always advocated more partnership with our district, town and parish colleagues. 'If we believe in the "resilience" ­of our smaller communities, then this is one way of pump-priming activity.' The TAP Fund has been developed to promote collaborative working between towns and parishes to tackle local community issues and support joint projects. l To find out more about the West Devon TAP Fund visit or call 01822 813600.