Community centre gets new equipment it hopes it will never need

Wingate Community Centre has got a defibrillator, with the £1,100 cost being met thanks to local county councillor Leo Taylor.

Centre staff have also completed training in how to use the equipment which delivers an electric charge to a patient who has suffered a cardiac arrest and could save their life.

Joyce Collins, manager of Wingate Community Centre, said: “Lots of other centres have been buying them and we thought it was a good idea.

“Councillor Taylor said he would give us the money for it and for us to have the training from his ward budget.

“We have quite a lot of elderly people use the centre and you never know when you are going to need it.”

Groups that use the centre in Front Street include the Women’s Institute, young mothers and fitness classes.

“It is used from cradle to grave,” added Joyce. “One of the things we learned on the training was that it is not necessarily elderly people who may need it. It can be young people and people who do sport.

“Hopefully we will never have to use it, but it is there just in case.”

Twelve staff and volunteers who work at the community centre successfully completed the training in how to use the defibrillator. They also included four members of staff from Wingate Infants School.

Defibrillators can dramatically increase the chances of survival if used within five minutes of a cardiac arrest.