Southsea pub praises community as it raises cash for life-saving defibrillator

A total of £1,600 has been collected so the device, which shocks the heart back into action after a cardiac arrest, can be bought and set up in the Francis Avenue area in Southsea.

It comes after licensed venues in and around Southsea’s Albert Road decided to club together last year and launch a fundraising drive to fund a defibrillator and save more lives.

The initiative was led by the Northcote Hotel.

The pub, in Francis Avenue, held a fundraiser and a woman got her head shaved to help pull in the cash.

Northcote Hotel landlord Barry Kewell, chairman of the Albert Road Pub Watch (pictured), said: ‘It was all done through the local community and the pub.

‘Hopefully we should be able to buy it soon and have it up and running.

‘There is one defibrillator at the other end of Albert Road, by the dentist surgery, but there isn’t one down near Francis Avenue. So we wanted something around here to redress the balance.

‘And the council had been saying this was something we could do, so we thought we would give it a go.’

Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt, who is leading efforts to introduce more defibrillators in public spaces, backed the initiative when it was launched.

As reported in The News, South Central Ambulance Service has been running an It’s Not Difficult campaign to raise awareness of how easy it is to give CPR – and stop someone dying before an ambulance arrives and they have access to a defibrillator.