A NEW community Automated External Defibrillator (AED) has been installed and is rescue-ready at Walnut Grove Clinic, Portishead.

It’s thanks to the staff at Walnut Grove, and their local community, that the new AEDs will be available in Portishead.

When the team at Walnut Grove were made aware of the need for more public access defibrillators in the community, they jumped at the chance to fundraise for two more.

Spearheaded by new owners, Steve and Kathryn Harper, and with the support of the Portishead Lions, Walnut Grove organised a fundraising event in June that pulled the whole town together.

Kathryn said: “Our aim was to raise enough funds to provide the community of Portishead with two more defibs to save lives.

"We wanted to get as many people as possible involved in a collective mileage to take us from Land’s End to John O’Groats, in whatever mode of activity people saw fit. Not only did we SMASH the mileage — we needed 874 miles and we achieved 1400!”

And to coincide with Steve and Kathryn’s first full year of ownership in October, they held a cake sale and raffle.

“Yet again, the support was overwhelming and unfathomable. We raised another £615 enabling us to order the second defib, for the Paper Mill Gardens studio site. The first, as some of you may have noticed, is in situ outside the main clinic on Slade Road."

Steve and Kathryn have worked for Walnut Grove for fifteen years, but when they took over ownership last year, they wanted to do something to show and reiterate the ethos of Walnut Grove and its community spirit.

Philippa Walker, supporter engagement coordinator at Great Western Air Ambulance Charity said: “Kathryn and her team at Walnut Grove have done such amazing work fundraising for not one, but two, AEDs for the benefit of their local community with incredible creativity, resourcefulness, and determination.

"We are so proud to have partnered with such a shining example of a caring, conscious establishment in Portishead and I look forward to continuing to work together in 2023.”

A second defibrillator is due to be located at Walnut Grove Studio, 81 papermill gardens, BS20 in December.