Malmesbury defibrillator appeal reaches target (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Malmesbury defibrillator appeal reaches target

8:00am Saturday 4th August 2012 in News By Tina Robins

MALMESBURY Mayor Ray Sanderson’s appeal to buy a lifesaving defibrillator for the town has already reached its target within the first three months thanks to local benefactors.

Malmesbury League of Friends has donated £1,000 while Hilditch auctioneers have handed over £500 towards the £1,600 cost of the machine that will be put somewhere prominent for use in emergencies. It means the equipment could be installed very soon.

“I’m waiting for the ambulance service to come to Malmesbury to tell me the best place to put it,” said Cllr Sanderson. “Because obviously it needs to be accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And it will have to be easily identified by the public.”

“Hopefully we’ll be able to go for another one later on.”

He said his appeal, which is also raising money for Tetbury-based mobile chemotherapy charity Hope for Tomorrow and a minibus to take disabled children in Malmesbury’s South African namesake town to lessons and treatment at the Joe Dolphin Centre, was going very well.

The drive to raise £6,000 for the bus, backed by the Standard, was given a splashing start on July 21 with a sponsored swim.

“The community is really pulling together with it.”

He said he had been slightly worried that people would resent raising money for a good cause in another country, but in fact they had given it their full support.

He also paid tribute to charity walker and town council worker Graham Jobes and his daughter Becci who undertook a gruelling 100-mile walk in five days last month and raised more than £4,000 to split between Hope for Tomorrow and CLIC Sargent.

Anyone wanting to make a donation to the appeal can send it to Mayoral Appeal, Malmesbury Town Hall, Cross Hayes, SN16 9BZ.