A NEWLY-wed landlord and landlady have shunned a traditional wedding gift list in favour of helping to save lives in their local community.

David and Wendy Humphreys, who run The Stiddy in Lythe, near Whitby, North Yorkshire, got married on January 1 and requested guests give them money they would then donate to charity.

The couple did not know which charity to choose at the time but after watching a real-life emergency services programme on television, where someone had a heart attack and was saved by the use of a defibrillator, they made the decision to buy one for the village.

Mr Humphreys said: “When we were planning our wedding we thought we had everything we needed, so Wendy and I considered it would be a good idea to collect money for a charity.

“We settled on a defibrillator for the community. Ours is a village of people who are getting older, and a defibrillator would be useful.

“Hopefully it never gets used, but it’s here if we need it.”

The defibrillator, a machine that delivers an electric shock to the heart when someone is having a cardic arrest, now has pride of place on the front wall of The Stiddy.

And now other communities are being asked to purchase a machine for their village.

The defibrillators, costing £900, are available to communities in areas of North Yorkshire thanks to Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

An initial 37 potential village locations have been identified as part of this project.

The CCG has purchased the cabinets to house defibrillator units, which are secure, weatherproof and accessed by a coded lock, and will be placed in prominent village locations.

Mr Humphreys added: “The contribution to pay for the kit is small – if there are 100 people in the village than that’s just £9 each. Or perhaps other communities may look to hold an event to raise money.

“It really is worth it for the peace of mind – if it saves just one life then the cost is repaid.”

Dr Charles Parker, Topcliffe GP and CCG governing body member, said: “We are delighted to be working with Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust to provide cabinets for life-saving defibrillators at dozens of locations across Hambleton, Richmondshire and the Whitby area.

“We are working closely with communities to guide them on raising money for the machines themselves, and initial interest has been very encouraging.”

In an emergency, an ambulance service operator will provide the code to the unit and instruct the caller on how to use the defibrillator.

The unit automatically analyses the patient’s condition and determines if the condition requires defibrillation or cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

For more information contact hambleton.hen@nhs.net; whitby.hen@nhs.net; or richmondshire.hen@nhs.net.