A LIFE-SAVING heart-start machine is to be installed at a Darlington shopping centre, thanks to money raised at two horse events.
The Witton Castle Charity Horse Trials and the Zetland and Old Raby Hunt Point-to-Point race are raising money for a defibrillator that will be installed in the Cornmill Shopping Centre in Darlington town centre.
The top of the range machine, which costs about £7,000, can be used to keep heart attack patients alive until paramedics arrive.
Staff at the shopping centre will be trained to use the defibrillator by the Medical Response Team on Aycliffe Industrial Estate.
A spokesman for the response team said: "With some 350,000 people a year suffering a heart attack, any help that can be given in sustaining life can only be commended by all involved."
The Witton Castle Horse Trials take place in the grounds of Witton Castle, just outside Bishop Auckland on Saturday and Sunday and point-to-point racing takes place at the same venue on May 6 and 25.
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