Rhug Estate owner makes gift of life-saving machine

* Tomos Hughes and Lord Newborough with the defibrillator unit in the Rhug Estate Farmshop car park. 

Lord Newborough’s gift to the local community this Christmas is a Public Access Defibrillator which has been installed at Rhug Estate.

Lord Newborough, Owner of the estate, said: “The greatest gift this year is life, after everything we have been through this past year with the pandemic. 

"With that in mind I have decided to purchase a defibrillator unit from the North Wales NHS charity, Awyr Las/Keep the Beats which is working in partnership with the Welsh Ambulance service as my Christmas gift to the local community, Rhug staff, visitors and anyone else who might be travelling along the A5 and in need.”

The defibrillator unit has been installed in the Farm Shop car park and is for everyone’s use if they should ever need it.

The Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust (WAST) is part of the Save a Life Cymru campaign. They work in partnership with Keep the Beats, a dedicated fund and project within the North Wales NHS charity, Awyr Las and other organisations including the Welsh Government, other emergency services and charitable organisations. 

All are committed to supporting cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training and public access defibrillation across Wales.

Defibrillation in under five minutes can produce survival rates as high as 50-70% (Resuscitation Council UK, 2019). 

The Welsh Ambulance Service staff can direct members of the public to the nearest location of a defibrillation unit in the event of an emergency.

Tomos Hughes, North Wales Public Access Defibrillators Support Officer for the Welsh Ambulance Service, said: “We are always grateful to those that care for their local community in this way to consider purchasing and managing the safety and maintenance of defibrillation units across Wales. These machines save lives.”   

Every year Lord Newborough holds a Christmas carol service with food and drinks. He does this as a gift to the local community and his staff and as an opportunity to raise funds for charity. 

This didn’t go ahead last year and again this year due to the pandemic and so Lord Newborough is giving the defibrillator as his gift to the community instead.

Lord Newborough said: “Your support and encouragement has kept us going this last year once again and I can’t thank everyone enough.

"May the good times and treasures of the present become the golden memories of tomorrow and may your Christmas sparkle with moments of love, laughter and goodwill. To our customers and your families, may the Christmas season bring only happiness and joy.”

* Rhug Estate is open between Christmas and the New Year. Visit the website for opening times. www.rhug.co.uk