Marple Town Centre Defibrillator Appeal
Phil says: “The MBA put a public access defibrillator in the phone-box on Lower Fold last year after raising over £2,000 within the community. Earlier this year it was used on a gentleman who had a heart attack on the canal bank off Brabyns Brow, which just goes to show how essential defibrillators are to local communities like ours.” Marple Civic Society had also pledged £200 towards the up-front costs and undertaken to pay the £126 annual running costs for the defibrillator too. Local business GT Landscape and Construction Ltd was the first to get involved and pledged £100 towards the project and The Marple Website also pledged £50 and agreed to help with campaigning, which meant that there was only £650 to find. Soon after the appeal was launched it was spotted by local lady Stephanie Lorusso (nee Shaw, of the Malcolm Shaw & Son Funeral Directors family). Stephanie has generously donated the balance of £650 that was needed to purchase a defibrillator for Marple Town Centre. She says that her mother (Sheila Shaw) had a Cardiac Arrest a couple of years back on 2nd January, which she fortunately survived. Sheila then had to have a triple heart bypass last year, which went well, and she is back dancing and living a very active life now at the age of 80 years next September. When Stephanie saw the Defibrillator Appeal on-line she says she had to contact us and do something as she had been thinking about buying or contributing to a defibrillator in the town centre already and this was the perfect opportunity. Having reached the initial target of £2,000, it was decided to continue the Appeal for a period to try and cover at least some of the ongoing maintenance costs of £126 PA. Although Marple Civic Society has pledged to pay for this, and of course will do so, if we could raise some extra money towards it then the society will be able to conserve their existing funds and do other things to benefit Marple with them. Soon after the owners of Shop Local Club Card donated £50 towards the annual maintenance costs. More recently extra support has come from local Estate Agent Julian Wadden. They already operate a scheme where 5% of commission on sales is donated to a fund that helps to purchase life-saving defibrillators for use in and around the local area. The seller is asked to choose who should receive the donation from the sale of their property, selecting from a list of pre-approved local beneficiaries. JW has agreed to add the Marple Town Centre Defibrillator Appeal Maintenance to their list of approved beneficiaries that sellers can choose from, up to a maximum value of £630, which is equivalent to 5 years of maintenance at £126 PA. This is a fantastic offer for the Town Centre Defibrillator Appeal because contributions will boost Marple Civic Society's undertaking to pay for the maintenance and allow them to spend any funds they save on other important local projects. The Appeal Team would like to thank Marple Area Committee, Marple Civic Society, GT Landscapes and Construction, The Marple Website, Stephanie Lorusso, Shop Local Club Card and Julian Wadden for their fantastic support of the Town Centre Defibrillator Project, which can now be installed as soon as a suitable location is finalised and agreed. To get in touch about the appeal email via Here is the current funding status for the Marple Town Centre Defibrillator: Total installation cost = £2,000
Marple Defibrillator business sponsors:
The Marple Town Centre Defibrillator will be available 24 Hours a Day once installed. Not all defibrillators are accessible 24 hours a day but you will be surprised how many there are in businesses, schools, doctors and dentists within the area. The list below is not definitive but it gives you an idea on how many there are in our local community:
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Marple Bridge Association Chairman Phil Cooke is a man on a mission who, since achieving the installation of life-saving defibrillators in Marple Bridge and Compstall,
has now turned his attention to Marple Town Centre. Working with Marple Civic Society, Phil recently secured £1,000 of the £2,000 worth of funding needed for this from Marple Area Committee.
This web page is provided free of charge by The Marple Website