The Big Match Charity unveils latest Gosport defibrillator at Newtown Primary School

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Newtown Church of England Primary School is the latest recipient of a defibrillator courtesy of a charity which has so far donated 11 life-saving devices to schools across Gosport.

The charity, run by Elisabeth Humphries, began fundraising for defibrillators following the death of a young girl whose life may have been saved if she had access to a defibrillator, but they had initially been fundraising for The Brain Tumour Charity after the death of David Humphries.

The defibrillator given to Newtown Primary School is the 11th one that has been given out in Gosport and the charity has donated 44 in total.

Newtown Primary headteacher Emma Howlett said: ‘We will be sharing this widely through the community to let them know that we have this on site.

Children on the School's Council were present when the defibrillator was handed over by Elizabeth Humphries (Right) and given to Head Teacher, Emma Howlett (Left)

‘It was really important to have that kind of facility on site and when we first looked into the cost it was just so huge that we had been looking into ways that we could secure a grant for it but then we heard about the work Elizabeth was doing.’

More than 100 enthusiastic Girl Guides in Gosport take part in an outdoor activi...

The charity fundraisers for the money needed to secure the defibrillator, but they ask for a contribution after donating to the schools so that they can continue their fundraising endeavours.

Emma added: ‘Our school council meets weekly and they have been doing various fundraisers throughout the year for various different charities and part of their ongoing fundraising will be to pay forward to the charity.’

Each life-saving defibrillator costs approximately £700 each and Elizabeth does a lot of car boots and fundraisers to help finance these pieces of essential equipment.

Elizabeth, head of the Gosport team, said: ‘We like raising hundreds and hundreds of pounds but sometimes raising £700 is just as important.

‘We shield our children so much from all sorts of things sometimes we need to bring things like this into their field of vision. Things like this happen.’

A defibrillator can save a person’s life and heart problems affect one in every 100 children, making schools the best target to put defibrillators.

Elizabeth had four schools left in Gosport to give a defibrillator too but unfortunately does not know whether she will have the financial means to do so.