FUND-raising for a new defibrillator in Porlock to cover the north area of the village from Bay Road to High Street has been boosted by residents of a retirement home.

The residents of Magna Housing’s Healeys flats raised £460 by spending a month holding a variety of events ranging from coffee mornings to bap breakfasts.

Healeys provides independent living for its lively group of retired people who often have led fascinating lives and experienced some of the most dramatic changes in history.

Fund-raising for the defibrillator, which would be the fourth in the village, is being led by Malcolm McCoy and Denise Sage.

The pair visited Healeys and listened to some of the residents’ life experiences during one of the coffee mornings when a cheque was presented to them by Malcolm Bartlett, one of the organisers of the events.

Healeys, in Villes Lane, has 22 one and two-bedroom flats for rent to retirees.

Ms Sage said not only had the money from Healeys been a real boost to the fund, but it had made her realise how many Porlock residents really were in favour of the project.

However, she had been surprised by a lack of donations from those who might benefit the most from the project, although she appreciated money was tight for everybody these days.

Ms Sage said a further £2,500 still needed to be found before the defibrillator could be installed.

She said since the installation of the first one, Porlock’s defibrillators were known to have been deployed on 27 occasions and had ‘definitely saved lives’.

Porlock’s existing three defibrillators are located outside the One Stop store in High Street, the pavilion in Porlock Recreation Ground, and The Laurels Abbeyfield home, in High Street.

Further defibrillators can be found just outside Porlock in Allerford Village Hall and Bossington public toilets.