Defibrillator campaign launched after man's death

The owners of a bar have launched a campaign to install more defibrillators in memory of a family member who died from a heart attack.

Sam Hulme and Jono Yates, who own Goat in Nantwich, Cheshire, set a fundraising target of £5,000 to pay for the devices to be installed at venues in the town.

The pair decided to take action after Yates's stepdad Neil Gilbert died when he suffered a heart attack at Goat on 21 December.

Hulme told BBC Radio Stoke he and Yates had already raised enough funds for six automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and were approaching venues to take them on.

"It's been a lovely distraction from everything," he said. "It's something that's been really good to focus on. We're getting an awful lot of support."

He said Gilbert's death was a "huge loss" and described him as someone he could often go to for advice.

"He was a brilliant guy. He'd never judge, he'd lay down some wisdom now and again but even if you chose to ignore it, he'd always support what you did," he added.

The friends had examined the location of AEDs in Nantwich and discovered many of the existing devices were clustered together in one part of the town.

They said the aim of the campaign was to install them at venues which were not close to defibrillators currently in place.

The pair have so far raised more than £4,500 towards the £5,000 target on their GoFundMe page.

A recent update on the page said the charity, OurJay Foundation, had supplied an AED box and bleed control kit which would be installed on the side of Goat.

It said they had approached The Leopard, The Vine and The White Horse venues in the town to take on some of the devices they had managed to source so far.

Hulme said the work on the campaign had helped both he and his friend "turn a negative into a positive" after the death had left "a huge void".

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