Picture: Becky Saunderson. Image No.042356
IT was a case of Mamma Mia, Here We Go again! for a local choir as they turned the proceeds of their recent Abba concert into life-saving equipment. The cash raised from Buckie and District Community Choir’s sell-out Thank You For the Music show has allowed the group to distribute more of their funds to help support communities in the wider Buckie area, and last Monday evening Portgordon took delivery of a community defibrillator unit. The until will be situated in the Lampie Hoose and follows on from a similar donation recently to Findochty in August. In addition to donation of the defibrillator, the choir have funded emergency life support training from the charity Lucky2bhere for 25 local volunteers, with schoolchildren in the village also set to have an input. Portgordon Fireworks Committee have also provided a CCTV unit at the Lampie Hoose to provide extra security for the defibrillator. Buckie and District Community Choir chairwoman Kathleen Thompson said: “It takes a lot of positive action between all the groups involved to make this happen, but if it saves one life we feel it is all worth it. “We are delighted that the Portgordon Fireworks Group has gifted CCTV for the Portgordon site. This is
very generous and it’s really great that the defibrillator will be in place at the Lampie Hoose ahead of the 25th anniversary Portgordon fireworks event on October.” Commemorative plaques at the sites of both defibrillator devices mark the choir’s gifts of more than £3000 this year to the villages. Both units were provided by Lucky2bhere. A further defibrillator funded by Portgordon Fireworks Committee is
to be put in place in the upper part of the village soon. In the event of someone having a cardiac arrest, one of the trained volunteers can gain access to the defibrillator cabinet by calling the emergency services who will then issue them with a code that will allow access to the machine. The defibrillators are highly automated and will not allow an electric shock to be administered unless it detects a need for one.
Lucky2Bhere was established in 2007 by Ross Cowie who had experienced a cardiac arrest and was lucky in that an ambulance was nearby and was able to use life-saving equipment in their possession. As a result of his experience he decided to raise funds to purchase a defibrillator for the Skye Camanachd Shinty Club in Portree. A committee was later established from which the current Scotland-wide charity grew.