Sheffield community pub buys life saving equipment

Carl and Emma Shepherd licensees at the Blue Ball Inn in Worrall, have held a series of events to raise money to buy a heart defibrillator for their community.

Emma said: “We are very much a community pub.

“There had been a lot of talking in the village about getting a defibrillator.

“There were a couple of people who had had heart attacks, and that brought the need to the foreground really.”

The couple organised an auction with lots from local businesses and national suppliers.

Emma said: “We raised £5,500 in less than two weeks. We did a meat raffle, had collection buckets on the bar, all sorts of little things, but the auction really did it.”

The defibrillator has now been installed with a local electrician donating his time to hard wire it in.

As a strong community minded village, they want others to benefit from the generosity of the funds raised.

Emma explained: “We raised too much money, we raised enough for our defibrillator but the Old Horns at Bradfield were raising funds for theirs so we gave £1,000 towards their fundraising.

“We also gave £1,000 for Wadsley village, just outside Worrall. They really want one and they need to find a suitable place to have it.

“We still have some money left over so we gave that to the local Worrall environmental group, because they’re raising money to put some more play equipment in the two play parks in the village."

Emma said about 60 per cent of the village is over 60, so obviously with age, the risk for heart related issues increases.

And before the new equipment was installed, the nearest defibrillator for Worrall was Wadsley Park, or Oughtibridge.

“This one is available 24/7 and it’s registered with the ambulance services, so if someone phones up, and there is someone having a heart attack, they’ll be able to say there’s a defibrillator near you, if you can get it.

“We’ve got some volunteers who are going to be trained to be first responders in the village too.

“It’s a life saving piece kit. It's important in a rural village , where you've got more people at risk of those kinds of events.

“I hope we don’t have to use it."