Postal workers have Heart of Gold

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POSTAL workers at Hexham’s Royal Mail sorting office have embraced the idea of pledging a pound to help start a heart.

For the generous souls have been parting with their hard-earned coins for the last 12 months and have generated a total of £500 which they’ve handed over to our Heart of Gold campaign.

The fund was launched just two weeks ago with the aim of raising up to £10,000 to make more life-saving Public Access Defibrillators available across Tynedale.

It caught the attention of postman Andrew Wylie, who is west area representative on the Northumberland Football Association, and regularly runs a football-inspired domino cards among his colleagues.

“There’s 60 football teams on each card and the staff pay their money and pick their team,” said Andrew, who is the former manager of the Hexham Ex-Service Club Sunday League team which won more than 30 trophies under his stewardship.

“I don’t always sell all 60 teams on a card so it’s sometimes a roll over. People enjoy it,” he explained.

When the winning team is revealed from a panel in the centre of the card, a proportion of the money is handed over to the lucky player while the rest is set aside for a charitable donation.

“It’s something we’ve done for a long time,” said Andrew.

“When the money has built up we decide where it should go.”

In the past it’s helped support Tynedale’s Mini Soccer League and the Clayton Charity Cup, an annual competition for Tynedale’s senior football teams.

Andrew added: “I heard about the defibrillator campaign and just thought it was such a worthy cause.”

The inspiration behind our Heart of Gold fund will no doubt have struck a chord with Andrew.

For it was launched to help ensure residents across Tynedale have access to the same life-saving equipment which helped Otterburn footballer Adam Stephen survive a sudden cardiac arrest.

The 17-year-old Haydon Bridge High School student collapsed while in the pitch in February and was technically dead for seven minutes before off-duty medical professionals, with access to a defibrillator, sprung into action and saved his life.

The machines deliver electric shocks to help return the heart to a normal rhythm and thanks to paramedic David Hare, emergency care assistant Stu Connor and GP Michael Mason, Adam is now recovering and hopes to be back on the pitch before the end of the season.

Our Heart of Gold fund is being run in partnership with the Stephen Carey Fund, which works to help communities install Public Access Defibrillators across the county.

And with support from generous folk across Tynedale, we’ve already broken the £1,000 barrier.

Anyone who would like to make a donation to Heart of Gold can do so on line at http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk/heartofgold" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; or by following the link on the Courant website.

Alternatively, donations can be left at the Hexham Courant office on Beaumont Street in Hexham.

Cheques should be made payable to the Stephen Carey Fund.