The importance of having ready access to a defibrillator was highlighted early in the Euro 2020 tournament, when Danish footballer Christian Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch – he received immediate, life-saving treatment. Now, a new public access defibrillator has been installed outside the Beeding and Bramber Village Hall, in Upper Beeding High Street, to ensure that residents of Upper Beeding can call on similar equipment in the event of a cardiac arrest. The defibrillator is not only available to those using the village hall and is within easy reach should an incident occurring in the High Street, Church Lane, Saltings Way or Dawn Crescent – or at the Memorial Playing Fields, opposite the hall. The machine is straight-forward for an untrained person to use as it provides audio instructions which set out step-by-step how a patient should be helped. The machine can be accessed by calling 999 to report an incident. Sue Albery, chair of the Beeding & Bramber Village Hall management council, said: “We were keen to ensure that users of the village hall had access to life-saving equipment on-site, should it be needed, and are delighted to have worked with the Steyning Area First Responders charity to install our new defibrillator.” Nick Dungay, chair of the Steyning Area First Reponders charity, SAFeR, added: “Our mission is to ensure that people in the Steyning Health Centre catchment area have public-access defibrillators within easy reach, as every minute counts in a medical emergency. “We have maintained a defibrillator in Hyde Square, Upper Beeding, for some years, but were pleased to work with the village hall committee to install an additional machine in this part of the village.” SAFeR is a registered charity which has provided and maintains public-access defibrillators in the Steyning Health Centre catchment area. In addition to the two defibrillators in Upper Beeding, the charity has installed three defibrillators Steyning, and others in Ashurst, Bramber and Wiston. Information on the locations of these defibrillators can be found at safersteyning.org.uk/defibrillators SAFeR also supports community first responders who operate in the Steyning area. For more information, see safersteyning.org.uk/responders