TWO new defibrillators have been installed in a North Yorkshire town to help save the lives of cardiac arrest victims.

The briefcase-sized pieces of kit costing have been installed outside the town hall and medical centre in High Bentham.

Cllr John Vendy, leader of the Bentham Save a Life Project, said the hope is to buy several more £750 defibrillators to help cover High and Low Bentham's 3,000 residents, and to create "an effective community" of locals who have been trained in CPR skills - mouth-to-mouth breaths and chest compressions.

Defibrillators can be used by anyone and are designed to restart the heart after cardiac arrest. Every minute without CPR and defibrillation can reduce a victim's survival chances by ten per cent, says the British Heart Foundation (BHF).

Bentham's first two defibrillators were donated by the BHF, and they have been wall-mounted in special, unlocked cabinets costing £540 that are lit, well insulated and heated to preserve battery life during the cold winter months. The cabinets were installed free of charge by Adam Carr Builders.

Cllr Vendy, of Bentham Town Council, said that door alarms have been fitted to discourage people from opening the cabinets out of curiosity.

Training sessions in vital CPR skills have been held in Bentham, and local groups and clubs such as High Bentham WI are now being approached, said Cllr Vendy, adding: "We are trying to reach as many people as we can."

The defibrillators are simple to use, he explained, as once they are switched on they 'talk' to the user, telling them what to do. "Anybody can use them. The thing to remember if people are nervous is that you can't do any harm. You've got somebody on the floor that's effectively dead, so you're not going to hurt them. The worst case scenario is that you don't resuscitate them. The best scenario is that they live a long and happy life afterwards."