A school reunion in Cornwall has had a life-saving impact, raising vital funds to help prevent young people dying from undiagnosed heart conditions in South West England.
Eighty former pupils, predominantly from the Falmouth Grammar and High Schools cohorts that started in 1964 and 1965, attended the event at Falmouth Rugby Club, some accompanied by partners and a handful of former teachers as guests.
The organisers chose Jay's Aim, the rugby club's charity, to receive the event's surplus funds, a charity dedicated to preventing young sudden cardiac deaths in the South West.
Currently, more than 230 locations throughout the region have public access defibrillators (PADs). By providing these PADs, Jay’s Aim hopes to increase the likelihood of a defibrillator being available in an emergency cardiac arrest situation.
The charity also works to increase public awareness of little-known cardiac conditions and their symptoms and provide free-to-attend CPR and defibrillator training throughout the South West.
Falmouth Rugby Club already benefits from a defibrillator which was provided by the charity. This defibrillator is also readily available to the wider community and has on occasion been used by the Ambulance Service, District Nurses and Age Concern.
Whenever it is used, it is necessary to replace the single-use pads that are placed on the patient. The club purchases these from Jay’s Aim, at a cost of nearly £200 per set. The defibrillator cannot be used again until the new pads arrive, and this can take several days.
Therefore, the organisers of the reunion agreed to purchase and present two sets of these pads to the rugby club and have made a further donation of £300 directly to Jay’s Aim.
On Saturday (March 9) Steve Lawrence and John Moxom, of the reunion organising the group, attended the rugby club and presented the pads to club captain Alex Bullock and members of the club’s committee.
Clive Trewin, chair of the reunion organisers said: “After another very enjoyable and successful reunion of 'old' pupils and some of our ever-youthful teachers, we are pleased to be able to donate the small profit made from the evening to the important Jay's Aim charity associated with the Rugby Club. This will be of great local benefit. A win-win for all!”
John Bullock, chair of Falmouth Rugby Club added: “We are incredibly grateful for this generous donation from the school reunion charity event. The contribution of two sets of defibrillator pads ensures that our life-saving equipment remains ready for use in an emergency, providing peace of mind to players, supporters, and the wider community. In the past 3 years, the defib has been deployed at least 16 times and has (very likely) saved at least 3 lives.
"It has also given peace of mind to many others that everything that could be done was done."
"On behalf of everyone at the club, I’d like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all those involved in organising and supporting the event and for thinking of us for the donation."
Dan Osborne, CEO and charity manager of Jay's Aim added: "We would like to thank Falmouth Grammar & High Schools Reunion 2024 for their generous donation which is appreciated by all at Jay's Aim.
"Donations such as this allow us to continue our work of attempting to reduce the number of young people that die of sudden cardiac arrests in SW England.
"We will ensure that the donation is put to good use in one of the three areas of our work; providing community public access defibrillators, CPR & defibrillator training or funding cardiac screenings."
