Defibrillator installed at pub with personal link

A campaign to install defibrillators has come to an end, after a pub with a personal connection to the mission had one fitted.

Ian Snowdon, who represents Didcot West on Oxfordshire County Council, has completed his campaign to have the life-saving equipment installed across the town.

He said he "can't even think" how many defibrillators he has organised, but that there had remained one final area conspicuously without one.

That was until the landlord of The Wheatsheaf, on Watlington Road, offered their pub as the final site - with the defibrillator installed there earlier this month.

Snowdon explained that landlord Bobby and landlady Catherine "came out of the blue" to offer their support, with a "very touching story to why they needed it".

The councillor explained that Bobby's father had died of a "massive heart attack" in 2008 , and that the family "never know whether a defibrillator nearby could have made a difference that day"

"They wanted to give somebody else, and their loved ones, a better chance," Snowdon said.

"I think turning such a heartbreaking family experience into something that could potentially save another person's life is an incredibly generous thing to do, and it brings home what's so important about this project."

Snowdon first began his campaign to install defibrillators across his council ward several years ago, but said the Wantage Road area had always proven difficult because of a lack of public buildings.

"One of the best things about this location actually is it's on a pub which is on a prime location," he said of The Wheatsheaf.

"It's on the wall right next to the road and next to the pedestrian crossing, so it's very, very visible."

He added that after The Wheatsheaf came forward to offer its support, volunteers to fund, provide and install the equipment came forward just 11 minutes after a public plea for help.

"They were they were absolutely amazing," Snowdon said, adding: "I'm very lucky."