Following a successful application to the Lottery Fund by the Landshipping, Lawrenny, Martletwy and Newton Good Neighbours committee in 2016, three defibrillators were purchased from CU Medical Systems which are endorsed by the British Heart Foundation.

The first one was installed outside the Lawrenny Shop and the second one at Clare House in Landshipping.

After BT announced the decommissioning of the Martletwy telephone kiosk in 2016, Martletwy Community Council applied to take over the kiosk.

This took longer than expected but it was finally handed over in July 2018 and the last defibrillator installed.

Some 45 residents within the Martlewty Community have already been trained in their use, but each defibrillator is fully automatic and provides spoken and visual steps.

It will analyse the victim to determine if they are suffering from cardiac arrest and if so, will deliver a controlled electric shock to return the heart to a regular rhythm.

Up to 100,000 people in the UK from an “out of hospital” suffer a sudden cardiac arrest, making it one of the UK’s largest killers.

The faster a victim gets medical help, the better chances of survival. With CPR alone, the survival rate is only 5 per cent, but with a defibrillator available and used in conjunction with CPR, the chances of survival rises to more than 50 per cent.

There is a target of eight minutes for ambulances on a red shout e.g. cardiac arrest, to reach the victim within eight minutes but presently our local service only manages this about 68 per cent of the time. The defibrillators will be maintained by Martletwy Community Council.