AN anonymous kind-hearted Peeblean has donated £1,500 to the local First Responders for a new defibrillator.

The group recently launched an appeal for cash to replace two of their life-saving machines.

And, after putting a notice up in the town’s Sainsbury’s supermarket, one person came forward with half of the required funds.

John Houghton, the co-ordinator of Peebles First Responders told us: “We are absolutely over the moon.

“We are incredibly grateful to the person who made the anonymous donation – we just want to thank them so much.

“The group has three defibrillators, which we carry in our bags when we are on call.

“However, two of them are at the end of their working life and have to be replaced, so we looked at ways to try and raise the money needed.

“We are this year’s Sainsbury’s charity of the year, which has been a big help for us as a group –so we put up a notice on the noticeboard, and soon after we received a £1,500 donation from a member of the community.”

The registered charity currently has ten volunteers, who have put in more then 3,000 hours this year alone. They are fully trained by the Scottish Ambulance Service and respond to medical emergencies while an ambulance is on its way.

Members carry a range of specialised equipment in their bags – such as defibrillators and oxygen therapy – to deal with the likes of heart attacks, cardiac arrests and asthma attacks.

John, who has been the group’s co-ordinator for the past two years, added: “We have now been able to order the FR3 defibrillator, thanks to this donation. It has helped us massively.

“Again, we would like to thank the donor for this extremely generous donation, as this will go towards saving lives in our community.”