A PRIMARY school has installed a defibrillator on site after years of campaigning and fundraising.

Abermorddu School Primary School has successfully installed the life-saving apparatus to the outside of its school premises for the benefit of the local community.

As the only community space within Abermorddu, the local primary school is the prime location for a defibrillator for the residents of Caergwrle, Abermorddu, Cefn y Bedd and Cymau - who have not had the benefit of a Defibrillator being installed in their local community for years.

Mr Ian Roberts, headteacher, said: “The topic of securing a defibrillator to our school premises has been an issue raised for many years with our governing body - and it has always been the cost that has been a major factor in us being unable to secure and fund the fitting.

"As school budgets are being squeezed annually, unfortunately it has not been within our funding to allow us to cover the cost of a defibrillator which is nearly £800 and then the cost of housing and fitting the defibrillator which takes the total costs to nearly £1500.

"This is completely out of the reach of our school budget.”

However, the school, following an email from the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust, was successful in its application for a free defibrillator to be provided to the school and were informed in the spring of 2019 that it had been successful in its request.

The school proudly took charge of the defibrillator in Autumn this year.

Mr. Roberts added: “Once we received the defibrillator we were immediately faced with the task of fitting it as soon as possible, so that the local community could use it should they need.

"But covering the cost of the fitting, which we had been told would cost £600 plus, is totally out of our reach.

"We decided to reach out to the local community councils and also spoke to our PTA (Friends of Abermorddu School) in order to see if we could gather community support to help fund this fitting and we were overwhelmed with the support offered.”

Initially, Friends of Abermorddu School generously agreed to fund the fitting, however on further discussions, the school were contacted by a local group who have been fundraising for some months to cover the cost of fitting defibrillators in local communities around Caergwrle, Abermorddu, Hope and Cymau.

Claire Olsen, who organises the community event of St. Cynfarch’s Day Craft and Produce show each year and Christian McCale, who also organised the Hope Community Council Scarecrow competition this summer, both raised funds which went towards the defibrillator cabinet and fitting.

They were both there, along with Abermorddu School Council Group and Mr. Roberts to officially unveil the new defibrillator cabinet early this week.

The chair of the school council, Joe Edwards said: “We wanted to let all the local residents know that the defibrillator is here for them to use in an emergency.

"We are really proud to offer this to our local community and residents.”

For information, should you require the need of the defibrillator, please contact 999 who will direct you to the nearest location and will provide you with the details of how to access and use the device.