Silsden receives new community defibrillator

Wednesday, 25 June 2025 11:58

Mark Elliott and Lara Clarkson from Ecology with Silsden Town Councillor Lawrence Walton (right) and the new defibrillator.

A new defibrillator has been installed in Silsden.

The installation of the life-saving equipment is thanks to a partnership between Ecology Building Society and Silsden Town Council.

The town council provided the community defibrillator, and Ecology offered to host the equipment and paid for it to be fitted.

It is now located on the external wall of Ecology's headquarters on Belton Road.

The site was chosen as it is easily accessible by local residents and businesses.

The defibrillator has public access and can be used in an emergency before an ambulance arrives.

The ambulance service provides the access code to the cabinet when needed, and the defibrillator provides clear, spoken instructions to guide the user.

Lara Clarkson, Ecology Building Society’s Facilities Officer, said:

“Every minute counts when someone suffers a cardiac arrest so we were pleased to support the provision of this new community defibrillator.

“It’s important for this emergency equipment to be widely available in convenient locations across communities, even while we hope it’s not needed.”

Lawrence Walton, Deputy Mayor and a member of Silsden Town Council, said:

“On behalf of the Town Council, I thank Ecology Building Society for its help.

“The Town Council are grateful for the support of Ecology Building Society in allowing us to provide another Community Public Access Defibrillator (cPAD) - there are now seven of them around Silsden.”

Lawrence, formerly a volunteer Community First Responder with Yorkshire Ambulance Service, is offering CPR training to anyone wanting to learn how to potentially save a life.

He visited Ecology’s head office to demonstrate CPR and how to use a defibrillator, to help colleagues to feel more confident and prepared to deal with a potential emergency.

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