Shoppers in Bridge of Allan will have access to a vital piece of lifesaving equipment in a busy street thanks to the efforts of a local butcher.
The defibrillator has been finally installed on the side of the Friend of Mine restaurant in Henderson Street - after a fundraising effort by fellow business John Cullen Butchers to bring it to the town.
The machine has been sitting in the shop since October after the campaign raised the £1,700 needed to purchase it. No suitable site could be found for it to be installed until it was eventually erected for public use at the restaurant last week.
Butcher James Fraser was the brains behind the plans.
He told the Observer: “We’ve had a change can in the shop which customers have been able to put money into, as well as running a wee tombola and they raised about £1,000 between them which was a great boost.
“We then had a very generous donation from John Quinn from Central FM, who is a regular customer of mine and dropped in £700 to add to the total to get us what we needed for the defibrillator.
“I think it’s the third one that will be in the town, but it’s important to have them available in different areas for the publlc to be able to use free of charge if it’s ever needed.
Nicola Heron from the restaurant added: “It was all the idea of the butchers to arrange and organise it, but they came to us about locating it here and we were happy to help.
“It’s mounted on one of the outside walls of the restaurant and was installed by local electricians Graham Robertson.”
