THE Stephen Carey Fund – the Hexham Courant’s partners in the Heart of Gold campaign – are working with another Tynedale community towards installing a public access defibrillator (PAD).

Corbridge Parish Council has long considered making one of the life-saving machines available for community use, but after hearing about the work of the charity through our Heart of Gold campaign, an initiative has been launched to raise the £2,000 needed to put one in place.

Member of the parish council, Coun. Melvyn Stone, is helping to co-ordinate the fund-raising and has been spreading the word by distributing posters and emails.

He said: “We‘ve already started the ball rolling on the fund-raising because the healthy walking group in the village has donated £350.

“It’s something the parish council has thought about for a while but we’ve never been sure of the best way to do it.

“Hopefully, residents will get behind what we’re trying to do and support us.”

It is hoped the device could be sited at Corbridge Youth Initiative to ensure it can be made available for 24 hour public access and the parish council is now collecting donations.

Stephen Carey, from Alnmouth in North Northumberland, was just 21 when he collapsed and died from an undiagnosed heart defect whilst playing football for his village side in July 2012.

The charity was set up in his name and has overseen the installation of dozens of public access defibrillators across the county ever since, including two in Stocksfield and one in Riding Mill earlier this year.

So when young Otterburn footballer Adam Stephen‘s life was saved by off duty medics who used a defibrillator back in February, the Stephen Carey Fund was the natural choice of partner, when we decided to launch our Heart of Gold campaign.

With the district’s rural nature, covering almost 1,000 square miles, making as many defibrillators as possible available for public use is the priority of the Heart of Gold campaign.

We hope to raise at least £10,000 through the appeal and have been overwhelmed by the generosity of groups and organisations across Tynedale to date.

Among those who have pledged their support are the Rotary Clubs of Hexham, Hadrian and Tynedale, whose members will be joining forces to collect donations in Hexham town centre tomorrow.

Richard Marshall of Tynedale Rotary Club said: “We’ll have about 11 members out collecting between 9am and 3.30pm in the main shopping area of the Market Place and Fore Street.”

You can also pledge a pound to help start a heart online at www.hexhamcourant.co.uk/heartofgold