Two new defibrillators have been installed in Mansfield town centre, thanks to campaigning by the Mansfield Business Improvement District (BID) and support from the Sir John Eastwood Foundation.

The BID, which works on behalf of 520 businesses in the town centre, said it was always looking at ways of improving facilities.

It approached the foundation, which granted £2,000 towards the purchase of the defibrillators.

They have been installed on Clumber Street and on the corner of Church Street and Market Place.

Sarah Nelson, from the BID, said: “Mansfield town centre has a fantastic number of visitors and people who work in the BID area.

“We know the town centre has so much to offer, but occasionally there are issues where people suffer health problems.

“The installation of the defibrillators means that should there be any issues where immediate treatment is needed, there are now these devices close to hand.

“The aim is to continue to make Mansfield a safe, healthy and clean town for all visitors and workers.”

David Marriott, trustee at the foundation, said: “Having defibrillators available in Mansfield makes it an even safer place to be. We were delighted to support the purchase of potentially life-saving equipment.”

According to the British Heart Foundation, which has a clothes shop in Regent Street, and a furniture store in Stockwell Gate, a defibrillator is “a device that gives a high-energy electric shock to the heart through the chest wall to someone who is in cardiac arrest.”

According to St John Ambulance, “immediate defibrillation can be the difference between a life lost and a life saved.”

The service said that when people have a cardiac arrest outside a hospital the chance of survival after the heart stops falls by around 10 per cent for every minute that passes without defibrillation.

Pictured are David Marriott, from the Sir John Eastwood Foundation, and Sue Rogers, from Mansfield BID, at one of the new defibrillators in Mansfield town centre.