TWO residents of Llanfair Waterdine, Felicity Waters who is a community first responder and Deirdre Beavan decided to see if there was any interest in Heartstart courses in the area. They sent letters to every household in the parish asking if anyone would be interested in taking part, the response was amazing with over twenty people enrolling for both sessions on February 7 and 28.

The events were supported by the Llanfair Waterdine Community Fund' who paid the costs.

In their letter Deirdre and felicity wrote "Wouldn't it be great if we could get at least one person from each household in Llanfair to know what to do if someone they were with suffered a heart attack!"

The first event took place last weekend in the Everest Hall and people aged from as young as 10 worked with community first responders and first aiders to learn how to call for help, how to help someone who is unconscious, how to recognise signs of a heart attack, how to perform CPR, how to deal with chocking and serious bleeding. The course involved watching and listening to a DVD and then doing some practical work on each subject with the first responders.

The purpose of the courses is to make the area Heartstart Proficient . The two organisers are now having to look at other dates because the response was so good that many more people want to take part.

For more information contact Felicity on 01547 529789 or Deirdre on 01547 529543.