A DEFIBRILLATOR has been installed at Wonastow Road following a combined effort by three Monmouth businesses.

Darren Childs at Helmet Hair has been raising money for three years for defibrillators within the town and has seen the establishment of one in his shop, and others at Handyman House and McColls in Wyesham.

However his comments on social media about wanting one on the Wonastow Road was seen by Mark ‘Jock’ Jones of Precision Engineering who offered to pay for the machine, house it on the outside of his building and provide an electricity supply. Electricians Mark Bailey and Richard Shaw of Thomas Brown stepped in and offered to wire in the defibrillator to the power supply for free and the money left in Darren’s fund paid for the housing.

"It just seemed the right thing to do,” said Mark, who is the owner of Precision Engineering. He saw the message on social media for a Wonastow Road siting and thought “that’s our doorstep; we should be doing something like this”.

The machine is sited so that anyone in the area who calls 999 with an emergency can be directed to the machine and will be given the code to open the housing. Mark and his colleagues will have training to use it during working hours and the machine can be accessed out of hours. Des Hughes, First Responder who has been helping to set up the installations around the county is meeting the Rotary club to see if they will fund machines in the outlying areas of the county where there are none. Now the defibrillator fund has been emptied, Darren is hoping to kick-start fundraising again and anyone who wants to raise or donate to the fund can call in at Helmet Hair in Agincourt Square.