Charles James, on behalf of the H.A.D.A team, writes . . .
A huge effort was again made by John Sansom to organise and run the latest village festival. Knowing the costs that John incurred with advertising, the cost of his staff to erect and take down all the marquees (that he provided free of charge), the costs of the bands and the other costs involved, and knowing what was taken on the gate, I would estimate that this event was subsidised by John’s personal finances.
It is a great shame that such hard work was so poorly supported by the villagers.
The event was run to add to the coffers for the Defibrillator fund.
Previous events were keenly supported by the village to raise the initial costs to purchase and install the defibrillator.
However there are ongoing costs involved. It costs on average £300 per year to keep the village emergency telephone system running, coupled with biannual first aid refreshers for the responder team, replacement defibrillator pads and batteries.
Take into consideration that our existing defibrillator has a finite life span, so we can look at the need to replace the defibrillator in the next five years. Our present funds will support the ongoing costs of our existing defibrillator for that period of time; however it will leave us with a surplus of less than £100.
We will need to raise the purchase costs of a replacement defibrillator within that timescale or be without one.
Now you may well feel that we do not need a defibrillator, BUT if you or someone you know needs one, and it is not there, then this could well be a matter of “life or death” for that person!
If these events are not better supported in the future, and our bank balance not increased to replace the defibrillator when needed, then we will loose it at the end of its life span.
This would be a huge shame after the effort taken to set up and run the existing scheme so successfully.
Please do support us in the future, and a big thank you to those of you that did on Saturday.