More than £2,000 raised to install defibrillators at primary school

More than £2,000 has been raised towards installing a public defibrillator at a school in Staffordshire after almost 70 people turned out for a sponsored walk.

Taking part in a sponsored walk to raise money for a defibrillator, (front) Rachel Dingle, of Burntwood, Sarayah Dingle, aged six, and Bodhi Dingle, aged four, at Chasewater, joined by pupils and parents from Fulfen Primary School.

Around 35 pupils from Fulfen Primary School in Burntwood dressed up alongside their parents for a walk around Chasewater Country Park on Saturday.

And it was all for a good cause, with businesses sponsoring the event with the aim of getting a life-saving public defibrillator installed at the school.

Rachel Dingle, whose children go to the school, organised the event with another parent – having installed more than 20 defibrillators across the region.

She has raised several thousands for defibs through the CRY ALEX campaign following the death of her brother Alex Brown from sudden cardiac arrest aged 25 in 2015.

Taking part in a sponsored walk to raise money for a defibrillator, Rachel Dingle, of Burntwood, husband Martin Dingle, Bodhi Dingle, aged four, and Sarayah Dingle, aged six, at Chasewater.

She said: "I raise money through CRY ALEX set up in memory of my brother who died from a cardiac arrest in 2015. I've got defibs in Wolverhampton, Walsall, Lichfield – all over the place – and I've installed just over 20 now.

"My children go to Fulfen Primary School so I approached them and they haven't got them and there's none in close proximity. You hear about young children dying all the time [due to cardiac arrest], like the incident at Crash Bang Wallop [where an eight-year-old boy died], and I was like 'I just need to get one'. So me and another parent decided to organise a sponsored walk around Chasewater and we had a huge response."

The 36-year-old, who was originally from Wolverhampton but who now lives in Burntwood, said they were still waiting for some of the money to come through – but the total is looking set to be well over £2,000.

"It all went really well and quite a few businesses sponsored us," she said. "We're waiting for some of the money, but we've raised well over £2,000. We're going to make the defib public and hopefully we can look at potentially getting two – have one in public and one in the office they can take out of school, for trips," she added.

The parent added: "It's been really successful and lovely. We had the mascot we lent from the charity and the kids were so interested in it, they were curious to what it was and what it was for."

The defibs are all installed through AEDdonate, based in Stone. People who wish to donate should visit CRY ALEX's Facebook page.