SOUTHAMPTON football club have backed a major campaign to protect hundreds of schoolchildren's lives.

The club has backed the Daily Echo's Save a Life in Schools campaign urging every school in Hampshire to buy a defibrillator.

Now, with some help from the Saints Foundation, the club mascot Sammy Saint has delivered the lifesaving equipment to a city school.

They have donated a defibrillator to Chamberlayne College for the Arts after encouragement from former Saints manager Lawrie McMenemy who wanted the club to be a trailblazer for other businesses across the county to support local schools.

The Save a Life in Schools campaign was launched in March 2014 after 16-year-old schoolboy Sam Mangoro’s life was saved by a defibrillator after he suffered a heart attack during a PE lesson at Mountbatten School in Romsey.

Since then dozens of schools have installed defibrillators to ensure that they are prepared for similar incidents, with many citing the Echo campaign as the reason.

Saints Foundation manager, Greg Baker said: "We think the campaign is an amazing idea and it's been so successful. As the local football club it's important that we support out local paper so Southampton Football Club decided to donate a defibrillator to a school which hadn't been able to afford one by using funding from the Saints Foundation.

"We're really hoping that we will be the first of many major business in the area to buy a defibrillator for a local school. Ultimately we thought it was really important that we invest in the children of our city and their futures.

"We chose Chamberlayne because we have a good relationship with them and as they were a school still waiting for enough funds to buy one it seemed like the right thing to do. Now we want other businesses to get on board and support the Daily Echo Save a Life in Schools campaign by buying their local school a defibrillator too."