Missed A Beat charity day at Tesco in Newton Aycliffe

Tesco in Newton Aycliffe hosted the event for Missed a Beat to raise money to buy the life-saving equipment.

Mark Preston began the foundation after close friend Darren Scott died following a medical emergency while playing football for Cobblers Hall FC in February 2022.

It was held in the town's Tesco store (Image: Stuart Boulton)

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The tragic event inspired Mark, 49, from School Aycliffe, to provide communities with defibrillators and training to operate the devices to help people in cardiac arrest.

Missed a Beat has raised over £30,000, and has so far donated ten fixed defibrillators across Newton Aycliffe as well as sixteen dual-use defibrillators to football teams that can be transported and shared between teams.

The life-saving equipment is being supplied to the community (Image: Stuart Boulton)

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Mark said the community has been 'very supportive' (Image: Stuart Boulton)

The father-of-two, who works as a children’s home manager, said: “Seeing and hearing a number of my friends die is really heartbreaking and we are not getting any younger so it is really important to me to get this many of these defibrillators out there as possible.

“I have a lot to do with football teams and I would not want any of them to suffer that experience themselves.

“The community of Newton Aycliffe has been very supportive.”