ALL the adults in Marston Meysey will be potential lifesavers if Kirsty Payne has her way.

Locals, who raised money for their own defibrillator because of fears that someone might die as they waited for an ambulance to reach the village near Cricklade, are now learning to do cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

Kirsty, who was a driving force behind the Marston Meysey Save a Life Project earlier this year, said even after the defibrillator had arrived lots of people admitted they were worried they would be too nervous to use it, although it is fully automated and talks users through the procedure.

“I had to do something to make sure they weren’t scared of it. I thought there was no point in just learning how to use a defibrillator, you might as well learn to do CPR at the same time.”

So next week dozens of them will be taking part in training sessions using a kit supplied by the British Heart Foundation.

She came up with the idea of applying to the charity when she discovered the cost of receiving CPR training.

Its Nation of Lifesavers campaign aims to make the UK a country where learning CPR skills is a normal part of life for everyone.

Kirsty’s project was chosen and she was provided with a kit that allows 10 people to be trained at the same time without the need for an instructor.

The aim is to ensure help is close at hand if someone does collapse and needs to be resuscitated while paramedics are on their way.

“With all the knowledge in the village, if the worst was to happen you could knock on anyone’s door,” said Kirsty.

The charity says fewer than one in 10 people in the UK who have cardiac arrests away from hospital survive the attack.

It provides training kits, including mannequins and uses DVDs to teach people to use a defibrillator, how and when to carry out CPR and how to put patients in the recovery position.

“I was a little bit worried about doing this because I’m not an expert, but they have been really good in providing everything we need in order to do this.

“We have this defibrillator and if I can get everybody in the village to come along and learn CPR I think we will give ourselves a fighting chance,” she said. “I have to say we have had great take up.”

The idea is so popular staff at the village pub, the Old Spotted Cow, are planning to have a training session with the kit so they can aid customers.

Kirsty and other residents raised £2,000, including a £1,000 grant from the Cricklade and Royal Wootton Bassett area board, to buy the defibrillator because it takes 20 to 30 minutes for an ambulance to reach them from Swindon. The village also suffers from a poor mobile phone signal.