Fenland and District Lodge of Oddfellows help life-saving charity with £1,200 donation

A charity that provides emergency care to villagers has benefited to the tune of £1,206 thanks to a local organisation.

Manea First Responders was presented with the money by Neil Cook, chair of the Fenland and District Lodge of Oddfellows at the weekend.

The money was raised through events held during Neil’s year in office, and these included a number of coffee mornings, a tour of Peckover House, a cruise on the river at Ely, a summer barbecue in Doddington, and afternoon tea at Stonea.

Other events also included a quiz night held at Doddington pavilion and Neil’s year culminated in a Sunday lunch at the Crown Lodge in Outwell, incorporating a grand draw.

Neil presented the cheque to first responders Lisa Eve and Andy Shippam. The money will be used to help keep Manea defibrillators operational and allow the team to continue to serve Manea and the surrounding villages.

It was a thank-you for the carer Neil received from First Responder Ben Lavender who attended him on two occasions when he was experiencing bad angina pain.

Neil’s wife Irene said: “He was brilliant reassuring, liaising with the ambulance crew. Neil just wanted to give something back to enable them to continue with the good work they are doing in the village (I might live in Stonea but my heart and home is Manea!) and all the surrounding villages. It's all voluntarily done they even fund their own uniforms, so any assistance to help them continue is welcome.”

In the meantime, Andy has launched his own fundraising effort for the charity via Justgiving as he is taking on the Cambridge Half Marathon on Sunday, March 3.

Community first responders are volunteers who are trained by the East of England Ambulance Service to attend certain types of emergency calls in the area where they live or work.

They aim to reach a potential life-threatening emergency in the first vital minutes before the ambulance crew arrives.

Manea community first responders respond to 999 calls in Manea, Chatteris, Doddington, Wimblington, Tipps End, and Welney to name a few.

Community first responders are trained to assess patients' observations and can then relay this to ambulance control to update the information to ensure any additional response required is requested for the patient.

In addition they look after all of the automated external defibrillators (AED) in Manea which require regular checks, maintenance, and restocking and are funded by the Manea CFR group which can cost hundreds of pounds a year.

You can support Andy by visiting Justgiving and searching Andy Shippam.