AT their latest meeting, members of Stonehaven and District Community Council agreed on the allocation of various funds – including the £4,700 raised at this year’s Nippy Dip.
Boosting the defibrillator coverage in the town was one of the main aims of the fund-raising dash into the sea on New Year’s Day. Chair David Lawman told the meeting a £1,000 contribution to their existing defibrillator fund would enable the purchase of additional life-saving apparatus for the use of our Wildcats Reponders – the community-based Scottish Ambulance Service volunteers who can quickly reach a patient to perform CPR, deploy a defibrillator and provide support to the patient’s family while an ambulance is on its way.
And to make the town’s equipment coverage even more effective, SDCC will also purchase a training device for use by the Stonehaven Defibrillator Group.
”This will increase the number of people in Stonehaven comfortable using the equipment,” said Mr Lawman.
A further £1,000 from the Nippy Dip will also go to SDCC’s reserve for the maintenance of defibrillators – they need regular checks and new batteries etc, so they are always in good condition when needed.
Balance to Christmas tree, resilience and next year’s dip
There was no argument about the allocation of £1,000 towards to cost of Stonehaven’s festive fir tree – nor of a total of £1513 being targetted towards the community council’s resilience fund.
The final £200 raised at the Nippy Dip is to be held on reserve to assist with the cost of hosting next year’s chilly challenge.
Update on generator purchase
The Bellman has already reported on SDCC’s decision to buy a generator. During their meeting members heard a larger than practical, three-phase machine was needed for use at Fetteresso Church Hall, one of the two venues identified as an emergency hub. Since then, it has emerged there is sufficient battery storage at Fetteresso Church to make a smaller generator suitable there too – good news as it keeps options open for any time of emergency need, when the impacts of the event may vary across the town.
Feature image – for illustration only and not from the latest Nippy Dip