WERRINGTON Cricket Club recently became the latest sports club in the Post area to have been donated a defibrillator courtesy of Bude-based charity Jay’s AIM.

The Ladycross outfit are one of the biggest clubs in Cornwall with four adult teams and a thriving youth section, while healthy sized crowd often turn up to watch their matches.

Each Saturday from the end of April to the beginning of September, two adult teams are at home throughout the season, meaning 44 players plus spectators are potentially at risk.

Dan Osborne from Jay’s AIM said: “We are delighted to provide a public access defibrillator for Werrington Cricket Club. The club is a very busy place with four senior teams and lots of youth cricket being played each week. Liz Hodgson (sponsorship secretary) contacted us to say she felt that it would be a good venue for one of our defibrillators and we completely agreed.”

Werrington chairman Richard Jenkin added: “Liz came up with the idea and the committee absolutely supported it, so she went and approached Jay’s AIM. Not only is it an asset for the club, its also an asset for the parish. Four teams play at Werrington on a Saturday so you never know what could happen, it could be a lifesaver.”

Dan and Richard were both keen to point out the defibrillator isn’t solely for the cricket club.

Dan said: “The village itself is also fairly rural and has a busy primary school, we therefore felt it would benefit the whole community should an emergency ever occur. We will be running a free CPR session, which will include how to use the defibrillator, at the cricket club between 7.30pm and 8.30pm on Wednesday, August 28. It would be great to see a good number of club members and local residents there.” 

Richard is also hoping for an excellent turnout from locals.

He said: “We want everyone to come along. We’re inviting the local community including members of the parish council and the headteacher of Werrington Primary School.

“It’s really important, there’s nothing else like this in Werrington, it’s a very rural area and we have a fair proportion of older people. It’s great to know there’s something like this in the parish.”

Dan added: “We would encourage any other sports clubs to contact us if they feel their site would make a good venue for a public access defibrillator.”

For more information about Jay’s AIM or to find out how your club can access the lifesaving device, search Jay’s AIM on Facebook, visit www.jaysaim.co.uk or email [email protected]