A DEFIBRILLATOR has been installed in Barmouth thanks in part to the fundraising efforts of a local man.

The defibrillator has been installed on the wall of a substation near the Last Inn pub by the Barmouth First Responders.

It is the fifth defibrillator they have installed in the town.

Glyn Jones is the team manager at Barmouth First Responders.

He said: “There’s a local man, Lewis Lodder, who was born and bred in Barmouth. He is currently training to be a paramedic in the Midlands. Lewis set up a page and he raised about £750.

“He donated this to the First Responders to put towards the defibrillator.

“Local people and businesses donated a total of another £500.

“The First Responders were able to add to this to make up the £1500 needed for the defibrillator and cabinet.

“Scottish Power have been amazing with their response and getting permission for it to be placed on their building.

“Not only did they approve it within three days, they even sent a team down from Wrexham to install it for the town free of charge.”

Lewis Lodder, who helped to fundraise for the new defibrillator, said: “The pandemic has had an impact on all communities across the country and not being able to come home due to lockdown restrictions has affected me massively so I wanted to give back to the community that served me so well.

“I was aware of all the hard work that the community First Responders were doing, and so I felt I would set up a fundraising page to raise money for a community defibrillator as well as raising awareness to the role of the community first responders.

“Thankfully, due to the generosity of the public, I raised £750 in total.

“We are very fortunate to live surrounded by mountains and sea but due to how rural we are, ambulance conveyance time in reaching a patient can be long.

Andy Miley, substation civil coordinator at Scottish Power Energy Networks, said: “We were really pleased to have been approached by the community to support them in such an important project as installing a defibrillator/

“And so we wanted to help them make it happen as quickly as possible.

“We know defibrillators can make a real difference in emergency situations and, whilst we hope the occasion never arises when it’s needed, we hope that it provides some reassurance to the local community should the worst ever happen.”