MORE lives will be saved in Didcot thanks to a generous donation by the town's rotary club.

Didcot Rotary Club has raised enough money for a new defibrillator and a kit to support an ambulance service volunteer for the town.

Shelagh Garvey, chairwoman of the group's IT and PR committee, said: "We are delighted to have been able to fundraise enough money.

"This should enable South Central Ambulance Service to put another Community First Responder (CFR) in the area."

This is not the first time the club has funded a £2,000 defibrillator and CFR kit: in June the then-president Bernie Melanophy handed a similar donation to Sean Fry, co-ordinator of the Didcot CFR scheme.

Mr Fry said: "We cannot thank the rotary club enough.

"For a while now everything we get is through donations to run the scheme so contributions like this make all the difference.

"It means we can replace kit or even get a new CFR out and about in the community."

There are currently eight CFRs in Didcot and its surrounding villages, with 1,000 across Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hampshire.

Mr Fry said that the next fundraising challenge for the Didcot scheme was to raise enough money to buy its own vehicle.

He added: "We would really like to be able to have our own car to be used by the CFRs, so we are trying to raise £15,000.

"At the moment our first responders use their own cars and we reimburse them on travel expenses.

"But it would be great to have our own vehicle, which is clear from the paintwork that it is a CFR coming to the scene of an emergency."

Community First Responder teams were officially launched in 2003.

Rachel Coney, CEO of South Central Ambulance Charity, added that all the costs of training and equipping a responder comes through donations.

She added: "Usually it costs about £2,000 for the training and equipment of a CFR.

"Then if you take into account expenses in terms of mileage and replacing of some equipment like gloves then it comes up to another £300 every year.

"We rely so much on these donations and we cannot begin to describe how valuable CFRs are.

"We like to call them the ambulance service at the end of your street."

Ms Coney said that usually CFRs aim to be at an emergency within five minutes.

She added: "They are usually the first on the scene and then assisted by our paramedics.

"But by having more CFRs life-saving support can be provided much quicker and make that all important difference."

For more information or to donate visit: sca-charity.org.uk