Housebuilder donates life saving defibrillator to Bognor Regis Town Football Club

Taylor Wimpey Southern Counties has donated a public access defibrillator to Bognor Regis Town Football Club, as part of its commitment to the communities in which it builds.

Having completed building at the nearby The Hedgerows development, the housebuilder delivered the defibrillator to Bognor Regis Town Football Club to be placed on site.

The donation is part of a joint initiative with the British Heart Foundation (BHF), with both BHF and Taylor Wimpey donating potentially life-saving public access defibrillators (PAD’s) to communities around the UK to help people who suffer from an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

During 2019, the BHF also worked with Taylor Wimpey to train its employees in CPR skills and provide every one of their building sites in the UK with a defibrillator. As part of its commitment to leaving behind a lasting legacy in the areas it builds homes in, Taylor Wimpey is donating the defibrillators to local communities when their developments are completed.

Bognor Regis Town Football Club was chosen as the recipient of the defibrillator, as Assistant Site Manager Calvin Davies works closely with the club. With training available to children as young as seven years old, the defibrillator will allow members of the club to easily access it should they ever need to.

Upon receiving the donation, Simon Cook at Bognor Regis Football Club said: “We are extremely grateful to Taylor Wimpey and the BHF for this defibrillator. The recent incident of an elderly gentleman collapsing during a match highlighted the importance of having such equipment readily available. The swift response of paramedics was commendable, and they commented on how impressed they were that we had a defibrillator on-site.”

Rosamund Wells, Sales and Marketing Director for Taylor Wimpey Southern Counties, said: “"We are delighted to be able to gift the defibrillator to Bognor Regis Town Football Club. We place great importance on creating safe spaces and this life-saving equipment will be essential to not only the players but also spectators and the wider community as well. Our collaboration with the BHF plays a vital role in expanding access to defibrillators nationwide, ensuring that those in need can easily avail themselves of this life-saving equipment. We take pride in our ability to make such resources readily accessible."

Sarah Forsey, Survival Manager at the British Heart Foundation, said: “More than 30,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest outside of hospital every year but less than one in ten survive. More people could be saved if everyone felt confident performing CPR and using a public access defibrillator. We are delighted that Taylor Wimpey has contributed to the aims of the BHF by making a public access defibrillator available in Bognor Regis. It could really make the difference between life and death.”

Taylor Wimpey has committed to ensuring all of its defibrillators are registered on The Circuit – the national defibrillator network which connects defibrillators to NHS ambulance services across the UK, so that in those crucial moments after a cardiac arrest they can be accessed quickly to help save lives. Further information about The Circuit is available at https://www.thecircuit.uk/.

For more information on CPR, defibrillators and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, or how you can help BHF create a Nation of Lifesavers, visit https://www.bhf.org.uk/cpr.

To find out more about the other ways that Taylor Wimpey supports local communities, visit https://www.taylorwimpey.co.uk/news.