DANCERS from Harrogate have raised hundreds of pounds to buy lifesaving equipment for the Selby St John Ambulance unit.

Rocky Tops country and western partner dancers raised more than £700 to buy the Automated External Defibrillator (AED), for the Selby unit, by organising fundraising events around the county.

The group is made up of Les and Viv Chandler and Ron and Pauline Clayton, and Les was a volunteer for 17 years with the Ripon unit of St John Ambulance.

He decided to fundraise after Viv was stung by a wasp at an outdoor function and needed first aid treatment, and chatted with the first aiders who told him they could use another AED.

Les said: “My fellow group members and I love spending time raising money for worthy local causes.

“As a former volunteer with the charity’s ambulance services team, I am personally delighted to support the Selby unit by donating a new defibrillator.”

An AED is a portable device that diagnoses and treats life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias through the application of electricity, allowing the heart to re-establish an effective rhythm.

Survival rates from heart attacks increase by more than half if a defibrillator is used within the first four minutes, and someone in the UK suffers a heart attack every two minutes, with up to one in three dying before they reach hospital.

Amanda Whitwood, unit manager with the St John Ambulance Selby Unit said: “As a charity, we actively campaign for more AEDs to be made available in the community and in workplaces where they could save someone’s life if their heart stops beating. “We are absolutely delighted that Rocky Tops has donated this vital life saving piece of equipment which could be the difference between life and death.”

The group held dance classes and a series of socials and dance festivals to raise the money, and presented the AED to the charity’s Selby unit, after a three-day dance festival held at Eggborough Power Station.