Football ground gets life-saving defib machine thanks to fundraising efforts

The team of four from Frickley Athletic Community Foundation climbed Yorkshire’s highest peaks, Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen Y Ghent, and pulled in enough cash to buy the heart-starting equipment and a cabinet to store it in.

It has now been placed on the wall at Frickley Athletic Football Club’s ground, but will be available to be used by anyone.

John Stancliffe, who completed the walking challenge with friends Dave Rogerson, Lee Gray and Ryan McKnight, who are all in the 30s and 40s, said they had to work hard to raise the money.

“It was very, very tough, a lot tougher than we thought it was going to be.

“What nobody tells you is how uneven it is. It’s the first time any of us have done it and it took us about 10 hours 30 mins.

“We wanted to do it in about 10 hours but the conditions didn’t help, it was cold and rainy.

“We had a lot of sore legs, bruised toenails and blisters afterwards!

“It takes a lot of mental toughness but we’re glad we got through it.”

Raising about £1,000, the foundation wanted to put the equipment in the park, due to the number of people who use it each week.

John said: “There’s a lot of activities that go on in the park, there a run every Saturday and there are football matches.

“It’s important to have one of the defibrillators and the park is the best place for it.

“We just want to look after the community as best we can and if there is an emergency it’s there.

“Hopefully nobody will ever have to use it.”

Defibrillators can be use to re-start a person’s heart who has gone into cardiac arrest.

Kept in a locked box, a 999 operator will provide the code in the event of an emergency.