PRESTATYN Walking Football Club recently held a fundraising campaign to purchase a mobile defibrillator, raising £1,700 in doing so.
The mayor of Prestatyn and Meliden, Council Sharon Frobisher, attended the Prestatyn Leisure Centre all-weather pitch last week to meet the club, which was established in 2019.
The mayor spoke to members and learnt about the defibrillator and walking football in general.
The portable defibrillator will be kept handy for practice nights and friendly games between other walking football clubs along the North Wales coast.
Alan Parr, a member of the club since July 2020, said that he was especially grateful for the donations received to enable the club to buy a defibrillator, given his brother died playing football when such equipment was not on hand.
Alan, 65 said: “We recently were able to buy a defibrillator which is an important piece of portable kit. Bar 236, Celtic Cars and Bancroft Leisure combined to donate £150 between them.
“On a personal note, my brother died many years ago playing football and sadly, this apparatus was unavailable then.
“It was about 17 years ago now; he was in his 50s. We’ll never know, but I’m confident that, if it (defibrillator) had been available then, we could have saved his life.
“It’s poignant to me, also because I had a heart problem many years ago. I had a fast heartbeat, but I had a little operation and, touch wood, I’ve been OK, but I’m always conscious of it when I play.”
According to statistics, if a defibrillator is used within the first minute of a victim collapsing, the survival rate can be as high as 90 per cent.
Alan also highlighted the importance of the defibrillator being portable, allowing the club to take it to away games should players on either team need it.
He added: “We wanted one we could physically take with us, which would not only benefit us, but any of the players from the opposing team.
“Especially with my background with my brother, it struck a chord. Within a fortnight of the spark of this idea, we had managed to buy one for the club.
“We’re now buying a small, cheap simulator so we can all practise. We have one member who is au fait with the equipment, but we need two, three, maybe four, that can use the equipment should we ever need it.”
On walking football itself, Alan, who suffers from a brain tumour and tinnitus, the name for hearing noises not caused by sounds from the outside world, added how beneficial joining the club has proved to be for him, both physically and mentally.
He said: “The tumour itself means I’ve got permanent tinnitus, so because of that, I don’t go out much because if I get into a conversation, I find that it gets quite garbled in a noisy atmosphere.
“But going out with these lads in an open-air atmosphere, shouting and chatting while we’re playing, has really opened my mental capacity. It’s helped me physically and mentally refresh myself.
“We have two one-hour sessions a week, so it’s really helped get me out of the house, get fit again, and enjoy the social side of the club.”
For more information on Prestatyn Walking Football Club, which comprises roughly 35 members aged between 60 to early 70s, you can join its Facebook group by visiting: www.facebook.com/groups/420380775216296.
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