A FAMILY who moved to North Yorkshire last year want to give back to their welcoming new community.

Liz and Dave Holman are fundraising to buy three new defibrillators for Ingleton, to say 'thank you' to the residents who helped them when they were struggling to set up their new business.

After buying the land for the Meadow Falls campsite in July of last year, the couple encountered difficulties from the offset.

With planning permission problems, no electricity and only a caravan to live in, Liz and Dave Holman were concerned that they had made the wrong decision.

However, the couple soon found that the people of Ingleton were more than willing to help in any way that they could.

"We wondered if we really had done the right thing," Liz said. "Then we began to chat with the locals and wow, what a fantastic support network the village has been."

The couple, who moved from Knutsford, were offered generators to have power, baths to freshen up and home cooked meals.

"On a daily basis we had people stopping to have a look around," she said. "They wanted to see something wonderful made from the eyesore they had put up with for so long."

When the business was finally able to open in March, the Holman's invited the community to the site to celebrate and ended up raising more than £200 from a quick collection.

This money will go towards one of three defibrillators for the parish of Thornton-in-Lonsdale, pieces of equipment which Liz thinks are 'absolutely essential'.

"We have people coming in and out all the time," she said. "We need something like that, you never know what's going to happen."

Maureen Talbot, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, confirmed Liz's beliefs.

"Using a defibrillator, alongside CPR, can double chances of survival, so having them available in the community is vitally important," she said.

Sheila Hunter, chairman of Thornton-in-Lonsdale Parish Council, said that the warm community response was 'typical' and that the Holman's have turned a once rough patch of land into a community asset.

"I think the local community and the church has welcomed the family," she said. "It's a beautiful site and they worked hard."