Staff and customers of a Darlington pub braved the cold January temperatures in aid of raising funds for a heart defibrillator.

A pub at the heart of its community in Darlington will soon have a vital defibrillator, if the funds can be raised.

Staff and customers of the Baydale Beck Inn braved the cold January temperatures in aid of raising funds for a heart defibrillator.

Licence Joanne Chambers and manager Jemma Hetherington decided that a defibrillator should be fitted at the pub to give residents peace of mind.

The Northern Echo: The Baydale Beck Inn, Low Coniscliffe, DarlingtonThe Baydale Beck Inn, Low Coniscliffe, Darlington (Image: Chris Booth)

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A 6.9-mile walk was organised with 23 people and three dogs participating on Sunday, January 29.

The route which followed the Tees through Low and High Coniscliffe then back along the farm tracks to the north of Merrybent and ended back at the pub in Consicliffe Road.

Jemma said: “We’d love to get a heart defibrillator installed either inside or outside the pub. A lot of our community.

“Our licensee Joanne was trying to do this before Covid and then when Covid hit it meant we couldn’t do anything to raise money so now that we can, we’re doing loads.

“It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time because we have a lot of older people in our community and we also get a lot of dog walkers because it’s such a nice place to walk so it just seemed like there should be one (a defibrillator) because there are others around Darlington but not in this area so we need to have one that’s accessible for people.

“We had customers but also just members of the community who wanted to get involved.

“We really want to support the community. It’s great that so many people want to help and support us.”

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Everyone who took part in the walk was then welcomed into the pub with hot chocolate to warm up after the walk that took two and a half hours.

Other charity events to raise funds for the defibrillator include several raffles and a Halloween party last year, and combined these events have raised £460, but more events are planned to reach the target of roughly £1200.

A charity night is planned at the pub on Friday, February 24 to help raise more funds, and will include a games, food and music. Tickets are priced at £5 each with all proceeds going toward the defibrillator.

Ideally, Joanne and Jemma would like the defibrillator outside so that it is more easily accessible for members of the community.

The London Heart Foundation is also providing the team with a grant of £300 toward the defibrillator.

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