A GROUP of Southampton residents have installed a publicly accessible defibrillator.

A year ago, Niki Barrett and 5 other committee members set up a local group called The Friends of St Denys in a bid to raise £2000 to install a defibrillator in the area.

After many fundraising events and lots of generous donations the group have managed to install the life saving device outside the South Western arms on Adelaide Road.

When asked why she wanted to undertake this project Niki said: "We wanted people to have a defibrillator that could be accessible at all times.

"When we did some research we discovered that there aren't many defibrillators in Southampton that are easily accessible at all times of day, so that's why we thought it would be a good idea to have a publicly accessible defibrillator outside.

"They save so many peoples lives."

She went on to say: "St Denys and Adelaide road in particular suffer from a lot of traffic and therefore that makes it difficult for people to access the area quickly."

Niki described the past year as a 'real community effort' with lots of local people giving up their time for free to help with the installation of the device as well as many 'generous' donations.

She also said that Southern Water donated a £500 grant to go towards the project.

The installation of the defibrillator has been run alongside the help of Community Heart Beat, The UK's leading defibrillator charity who provide defibrillators for local communities.

Niki said: "We will have to carry on fundraising as we will need money for the upkeep of the device.

When asked if the committee had anymore community projects underway Nikki said: "Not at this moment in time, but we are so pleased that this project has been a success and we can't thank the local community enough for their help and support."