A brother and sister have purchased a defibrillator for the village they grew up in to remember their parents.
David Rolph, and his sister Debbie Whitehead, paid for the defibrillator, which is the second one in the village, and it has been placed on the Norwood building, in Somersham, on Parkhall Road.
The location was chosen as it is almost directly facing the house where David and Debbie lived with their parents Jack and Sheila when they were younger.
The building is also, as David says, “the hub of the village” for different things that go on.
As well as the defibrillator, a memorial plaque has also been placed on the wall, reading 'In memory of JH and SA Rolph. Donated by David and Debbie for the residents of Somersham'
Speaking about the purchasing of the defibrillator, David, who now lives in Ramsey, said: “Our family history in Somersham goes back to 1971 when my late parents had one of the corner shops in the village.
“When we first moved there, I was only nine years old, and since then, my parents never moved out of the village.
“They moved around the village, but never moved out.”
David and Debbie’s dad Jack died in 2006, and their mum Sheila, in 2021, and David said because of his connection to Somersham, he wanted to help the village by donating a charitable contribution.
“I thought to myself, I want to do something permanent which might help somebody else out and save a life, so I approached the parish council [Somersham Parish Council] about my defibrillator idea, and they leapt upon it.”
“I told my sister [who now lives in Wyton on the Hill] what I was planning on doing, so she contributed some money towards it as well as myself to purchase the defibrillator.”
The siblings paid around £1,700 for it but David said he just felt he needed to do something to have memories of his parents.
They are both buried in the churchyard, so he wanted something as a permanent memorial, and, since the defibrillator was installed, David has found out that The Rose and Crown Pub in the village held a fundraising event to pay for the upkeep of it.
“You can’t just put a defibrillator up and forget about it. There’s a lot of legal stuff attached to it, and they must be maintained to the utmost standard,” he said.
“I’m glad it’s happened. It makes me feel emotional. As far as I’m concerned Somersham will always be my home village, it’s where I grew up.”
Something else David will do for the community of Somersham in the future is donate half of his will to Somersham Parish Council, with the other half going to Cancer Research UK.
He is also hoping that what he and Debbie have done will encourage other people to do similar things.
“In my opinion, there is room in the village for another defibrillator, so I’m hoping this may click somebody’s conscience,” he said.
As well as David and Debbie’s defibrillator in Somersham, the second one is located at Tesco Express at 89 High Street.
FACT FILE
- By using a defibrillator before an ambulance arrives, you can significantly increase someone’s chance of survival
- A defibrillator should be used when a person is in cardiac arrest.
- CPR should be done until you can get a defibrillator.
- If you see someone having a cardiac arrest, call 999, start CPR and get someone to find a defibrillator. The emergency operator can advise you if you can't find one.
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