Helen Crane and Gilly Atkinson make up the team who endlessly fundraise to supply and maintain public access defibrillators around the Wyre and Fylde area. The team was established in June 2021 and to date have successfully raised enough to provide 59 of these life saving devices to the local communities of Fleetwood, Poulton, Thornton-Cleveleys, Over Wyre, Kirkham and the Bispham/Blackpool area. They have also recently sponsored a under 7s football team 'U7's vipers' in the local area to allow them to get a training kit, as well as providing the team with a portable defibrillator for training, matches and tournaments. The team have also launched 'Westy29', a portable defibrillator for hire for free with the option of giving a donation to help towards the upkeep of the unit. Perfect for adventurers, walkers, cyclists, campers etc going somewhere remote, allowing the best chance of survival to a cardiac arrest victim while awaiting medical assistance.

Our Background

The fundraising group was founded by Helen Crane in June 2021 with support from Gillian Gallagher, who owns Dolly's kiosk in Fleetwood. Helen, was a senior health care assistant at a nursing home, and has worked in the care sector for over 17 years, and Gillian, a pillar of the community, saw the need of a public access defibrillator at Fleetwood boating lake where Dolly's kiosk is situated. They realised the importance of a life saving device in the area due to how busy the boating lake can get with a lot of foot traffic of all ages. They started by organising a raffle where local businesses donated prizes. This raised over £3000 and thanks to a charity called London hearts, they managed to raise enough for 3 life saving units with external heated cabinets. They didn't stop there, they organised events such as family fun days, pub quizzes, chocolate bingo evenings etc. This helped them raised enough for 10 life saving devices for the Fleetwood area. In November, Gilly Atkinson jumped on board to help the team and to raise awareness of the importance of defibrillators as in April 2021, Gilly sadly lost her daughter, aged 29 due to a cardiac arrest. Her daughter, Laura West, was a medic in the army and was swimming in Lancaster when tragically she suffered a cardiac arrest and sadly passed away. Since June 2021, the team have held special events, continuously promoting their mission, spreading the awareness of these life saving devices and their importance and have raised enough to supply and maintain 59 of these units to date and they continue to try for more. Sadly, Gillian had to take a back step from the fundraising group in late part of 2023 for family reasons but she still remains close to our hearts. We have now recruited guardians to help us maintain our ever growing life saving devices which allows us to plan more events and liaise with others for future placements.
Follow our journey and help support our mission

Helen Crane

Founder and Fleetwood guardian

Gilly Atkinson

Founder

Poulton and Thornton guardian

Harry Crane

Fundraiser

Brian Crane

Fundraiser

Bispham guardian

Flo Crane

Fundraiser

Fleetwood defib guardian

Emma Walton

Thornton-Cleveleys guardian

Debbie Bowden

Fleetwood guardian

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Gill Bailey

Over Wyre guardian

Julie Leece

Over Wyre guardian

Peter Coney

Over Wyre guardian

Matt Consadine

Thornton-Cleveleys guardian

Ian Gibson

Over Wyre guardian

Colin Bagnall

Fleetwood guardian

Andy Linger

Blackpool guardian

Anthony and Paul from AJ roofing

Defibrillator installers 😃

Ian Hooper

Ambassador

Fundraising

We raise our funds by fundraising and from donations.

This section will give you an insight and information about what we have done and future events

Wyre community lottery

We are part of the Wyre lottery!!!

This is a local lottery which help support local community groups and charities.

This is a weekly draw and prizes up to £25,000, there is also a monthly super prize draw with prizes such as holidays, gadget bundles etc. Tickets start from £1 a week.

(*50% of the ticket price goes towards helping our fundraising mission *10% goes towards helping another local charity/community group*40% goes towards the prize fund)
The more people buying tickets and selecting our community group, the more we can raise towards the maintenance of these life saving devices.
Once in place, the defibrillators require regular maintenance, replacement batteries and pads (these are single use only) and ensuring they are emergency ready and the cabinet is in working order. This means we rely on the fundraising and donations.

In memory of

We have had donations from families who have sadly lost a family member.

If the family/friends of the individual agree, we can dedicated one of our life saving units to them with a slate memorial plaque.
Please send us an email for more information

Handmade items

Helen Crane makes items in her free time, to sell which all proceeds go towards the defibrillator fund.

Items include:

* Keyrings £1

*Bracelets £1

*Bookmarks £1

*Earrings £1 a pair

*Wine glass charms 50p each

*Necklaces £1

*Pocket hugs £1
These can be made in a range of colours and charms

We also have CPR mask keyrings for £2 and 'Wyre and Fylde defib' bottle opener keyrings for £1

Fleetwood community defibrillators

Our public access defibrillators in Fleetwood are placed:
*Fleetwood boating lake

*Andre's salon on Highbury avenue

*Broadwater store

*Trinity Baptist church on Poulton road

*Dave's beach kiosk

*North Euston hotel

*Larkholme primary school (available term time only)

*Rossall tavern at Larkholme

*Fleetwood bowling club (available during opening hours)

*Lord Street post office

*JT Byrne's funeral home at West view

*Broadway rooms at St Nick's church

*Raceways

*Farmer Parrs animal world
*Slipway at the top of Chatsworth Ave

*Slipway at Westway

*St Wulsten's Church Hall

Poulton community defibrillators

Our public access defibrillators in Poulton are placed:

*The vape store in Market Square

*Miller and Carter pub at Highcross

*Londi's store on Station road

*Hardhorn dental practice on Hardhorn road

*St Martin's and St Hilda's church hall in Carleton

*Poulton civic centre

*High bank farm at Hardhorn village

Thornton-Cleveleys community defibrillators

Our public access defibrillators in Thornton-Cleveleys are placed:
*New Yorker sundaes

*Tramway pub

*Bourne post office

*Marsh mill centre

*Tarnway shop

*St Johns church in little Thornton

*Corner chippy on Beach road

*Mobiltune at Four Lane Ends

*Moys vets at Norcross roundabout

*Golden Eagle pub on North drive

*Gardeners Arms in Thornton

*Mimmos restaurant at Thornton centre

*Kim Wilson hair dressers on Ingleway

Over wyre defibrillators

Our defibrillator units:

*Knott end working men's club

*Hambleton village news

*Knott end ferry café

*Moy vets Hambleton

*Moss side nursery

*The Shard Riverside Inn

*Hadfield's (was brew n sprocket) in Preesall

*Duck street, Pilling,

*Wyre fitness gym in Hambleton

*Mad air outdoor rifle range

*Bleasdale parish hall

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Bispham/Blackpool defibrillators

Our Bispham and Blackpool defibrillators are placed:

*Salon furniture direct on Holyoake Ave

*Red bricks care home, Little Bispham

*Tee time golf at Norbreck

*Waterloo music bar

*Lilliput nursery, South shore

*Indian Orchard restaurant on Devonshire road (coming soon!!!)

*Smiley's one stop shop (premier) on Waterloo road

Kirkham defibrillators

Our kirkham defibrillators are placed:
*Remembrance way near Kirkham allotments and scout hut

Upcoming events

Here we will update as and when.

This section will give you information on any of our upcoming events.
Upcoming events.....

❤️ We are currently working with HW training and receiving training to teach others in basic life support (BLS), to hold community awareness sessions on how to perform CPR and how to use a defibrillator, please watch out for upcoming dates. ❤️

❤️ We also are grateful to Suzanne Davenport and Penny Holden from Larkholme chat on Facebook, who hold fundraising raffles for our mission, as well as other local charities and community groups. We will add information as and when these raffles are on. ❤️

❤️We are hopefully attending other events this year such as Poulton Gala, Tram Sunday etc ❤️

❤️There is a monthly quiz, which is held by Martin Crane in aid of 3 local charities/community groups: Wyre and Fylde community defibrillator fund, Fleetwood beach wheelchairs and Fleetwood festive lights. This is currently being held at Fleetwood Cons club on the last Friday of the month from 7.30pm at £5 per person. The next quiz will be held on Friday 28th February, please email us on wyreandfyldedefibs@outlook.com to register your interest/teams ❤️

💙all proceeds from our fundraising go straight to the supply and maintenance of our 59 public access defibrillators to ensure they are always emergency ready. Maintenance includes replacing the pads once used or when out of date (these are currently £350 for a set of 5), replacing batteries (approx £250 each) and also prep kits (approx £13.50 each). With 59 life saving devices at the moment, the total of the upkeep is immense so we need to keep fundraising and spreading awareness with your support.💙
⭐ Don't forget we also have our Wyre community lottery which runs every Saturday, check out our lottery section for more details⭐

Past fundraising events

Here, you will find a list of our previous fundraising events which has helped towards raising so much to help us supply and maintain these essential units.

*Family fun days at Dolly's kiosk and new Yorker sundaes

*Raffles with prizes donated by local businesses and some national businesses

*Psychic nights with David Taylor and Emma Kinsey

*Chocolate and wine bingo

*CPR and how to use a defibrillator community awareness sessions with the Fylde coast community first responders

*Various stalls in the local communities such as Poulton Teanlowe centre, Affinity outlet village in Fleetwood and Fleetwood market

*Halloween party

*External fundraising donations such as donations from churches, local Facebook pages etc.

*Our very own Helen walked up the big one at Blackpool pleasure Beach which was a huge achievement as she is so scared of heights.

*One of our guardians. Andy Linger, did a sponsored skydive with his daughter
We have been so overwhelmed by the support.
Many thanks

'Westy29' portable defibrillator

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✨️Westy29✨️

In memory of Laura West 🌈1992-2021🌈

We are so so excited for our venture.
Our portable defibrillator for hire.
This would be available for individuals, groups etc to hire for events such as cycling, hiking, walking, scout camps etc where it is remote.
This will help give anyone in a cardiac emergency the best possible chance of survival while awaiting medical assistance.
We have decided that it will be free to hire with a £25 refundable deposit and an option to donate towards the upkeep of the unit.
Please contact us for more information or to book
Wyreandfyldedefibs@outlook.com

Making a donation

If you would like to make a donation, please find our business bank details below...
Wyre and Fylde community defibrillators fund
Sort code 010211

Account number 22308776
NatWest

Many thanks for your continued support to allow us to supply and maintain as many public access defibrillators as we have already to our local communities

CPR awareness

We are working in partnership with HW training who help us hold public awareness sessions on how to perform CPR and how to use a defibrillator.

Look out for our future events on the upcoming events page or our Facebook page.

These sessions are extremely helpful and informative and helps support members of the public to be confident enough to help save a life if they find themselves in an emergency cardiac arrest situation.
You can also find information and videos online such as.....
https://www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/how-to-save-a-life/how-to-do-cpr/learn-cpr-in-15-minutes

Special mentions

We would like to give a special mention to:

*Our volunteer electricians Carl Atkinson and Anthony Jackson of AJ roofing. They give their time and skills for free to get the defibrillator units in place and emergency ready. Without their kindness we wouldn't have been able to get these units in place as quick as we have. So a massive thank you ❤️

*Suzanne Davenport and Penny Holden from Larkholme chat on Facebook for holding fundraising raffles in aid of our mission as well as other local charities/community groups ❤️
*Our family and friends who help us with our events, especially: *Brian Crane *Harry Crane *Flo Crane *Martin Crane *The Atkinson family *TJ and Debbie Leech❤️

*All of our guardians, who go out in all weathers to check and ensure our public access defibrillators are always emergency ready ❤️

*Everyone who has donated time, support and items/money to our ever growing cause ❤️