Martham Village Defibrillator Project Update
Cllrs Bob Fossey (Chairman) and Sharon Coates who launched the Martham Village Defibrillator Project, with the installation of the first defibrillator at Martham Fire Station.
The Parish Council are happy to announce the launch of The Martham defibrillator fund raising campaign. A need for more defibrillators was recognised last year when the defibrillator near the sports and social club was found to be unusable. It was recognised then, that there is a need to increase the number of 24-hour accessible defibrillators in our growing village and set aside reserve funds to maintain them. Before we started the project , Martham had one defibrillator on the Fire station on Rollesby Road and one at the Coop on The Green. To give an example of how often a public access defibrillator is required, nine of Jayne’s defibrillators were accessed or used over one recent Easter weekend across Norfolk and Suffolk.
We launched the project with a CPR training session from Heart 2 Heart Norfolk
We are working with Jayne Biggs’ charity Heart 2 Heart Norfolk. The registered non-profit making charity, set up in 2016, has raised funds and placed several hundred defibrillators across Norfolk and Suffolk. Jayne very kindly came to a parish council arranged session in March, to do a training session / update on CPR and how to use the public access defibrillators. This event was advertised across social media and posters in the parish council notice board, and Jayne continues to be extremely supportive with our campaign.
About the defibrillators we’ll be buying
The ‘G3 Power heart cardiac science defibrillators’ we’re fundraising for come with a cabinet, spare pads, first aid bag and cost approximately £1500 for all the equipment. These will be purchased through Heart 2 Heart Norfolk. The equipment is guaranteed for 8 years and is endorsed by East of England ambulance service. Part of the funds we’ll raise will be used for ongoing maintenance and replacement of pads and equipment in the future.
Making sure our defibrillators can be found by the emergency services
Martham’s defibrillators are registered on a national website called The Circuit, which keeps up to date information on defibrillators which are ‘rescue ready’. This enables emergency services to see where the nearest active defibrillator is in the event of an emergency. The Circuit website is updated weekly when volunteers check the equipment.
For 2024, our current fundraising plans are:
- COMPLETED – To hold 2 used book and jigsaw stalls, one in at 28 Repps road at the Scarecrow Festival and the other at Martham Carnival. Raised £252.95 at the Scarecrow Festival and £208.65 at the Carnival.
- COMPLETED – Hosting a fish and chip quiz in the village Hall (on Saturday July 6th). Raised £332.
- Fundraising quiz – November 9th 6.45pm for a 7pm start. £5 per person. Teams of up to six. Bring own food, drinks, cutlery and plates. Bookings – call Sharon 07746769139 or mpcchairman@martham.gov.uk
- Councillor Bob Fossey to take on a sponsored bike ride along The Rebellion way this year. 232 miles in total. We’ll share details how to sponsor him soon.
Thankyous
Book and jigsaw sales – Thank you all for supporting these first events to help fund defibs and their upkeep in Martham. We raised £252.95 from sales of books and jigsaws, donated by the community in Martham and other villages. Thank you to everyone who supported this with donations and visiting us on the day.
Quiz and chips – July fun and fundraising! Our team of volunteers and parish councillors ran a fun evening on the 6th July at the village hall at our fish and chip quiz night. Quizzers helped us raise an amazing £332 from the entrance fee and raffle. Prizes for the raffle were very kindly donated by local businesses, including The Boathouse, Cantley Cock, Doggers Plaice, Sara’s Tearooms and Tesco Extra in Great Yarmouth, with further items donated by members of the village.
Donation in memory – We are grateful to Dale and Kerri Bushby-Page of Harleston whose fundraising in memory of their Dad has paid for the cabinet, battery, pads and bleed kit for our new defib outside the Repps Road Co-op.
Martham Summer of Darts Teams did us proud raising £772.43 towards defibs in the village.
Martham Carnival donated a huge £2000 to Heart2Heart Norfolk which will be used to provide a defibrillator at the Village Hall. We’re so grateful for this amazing gift to the village.
Villagers and organisations running parallel defib initiatives
- Flegg High school had a successful day too, and raised £594 towards their own public access defibrillator, they have two more events this year.
- James Chapman has kindly donated a defib to be sited at Broadland Sports and intends to fundraise for us.
- Jayne Biggs of Heart 2 Heart Norfolk has donated our latest defibrillator that will be installed on or near the green off Cess Road
- Joan Shaw’s own fundraising initiative led to a defibrillator being installed at Martham Boats
We welcome your ideas for fundraising activities. If you’d like to fundraise for us, please get in touch so that we can support you and help promote your activities.
If you would like to make a donation please visit our Martham Defibrillator GoFundMe page or contact us.