A RADCLIFFE church will become the first location in the town to offer public access to a defibrillator when it launches a new life-saving scheme this weekend.

Trinity Baptist Church, in Westminster Avenue, was recently awarded a grant for £1,100 to fund the defibrillator, an alarmed case for it, and training provisions under Bury Council’s ‘Our Place’ initiative.

The device, also known as an AED (automated external defibrillator), is to be fitted to the outside wall of the church, and will be available 24 hours a day to any member of the public dealing with a cardiac arrest.

Church minister David Callander, an experienced first aider, said: “This is a tremendous asset for the community here in Radcliffe, and we are really, really grateful to Bury Council for their help and support.

“This is a really crucial service. If anyone is within five minutes of the defibrillator when they fall ill then it will drastically improve their chances of staying alive.

“Until now, the nearest publicly available defibrillator has been in Bury, which is just too far away to make a real difference in most cases.”

The quick deployment of a defibrillator in cases of cardiac arrest can help achieve survival rates as high as 70 per cent.

Local groups were awarded a total of £7,000 in grants through the ‘Our Place’ scheme, which supported community-led initiatives to improve health and wellbeing in the area.

Earlier this year, Trinity Baptist Church set up its own not-for-profit first aid tuition company after finding the cost of training church volunteers was so high.

As part of the church’s mission strategy, first aid courses – which usually cost around £150 – can be offered for as little as £20.

The device will be launched at a special church service this Sunday, where parishioners will be able to view the machine and sign up for training.

Anyone attending the service will be guaranteed free training on the machine if they wish.

People can also find out more information and get in touch at www.churchestraining.com