THE Herald met its target to raise £1,500 for a life-saving defibrillator in Farnham Park just hours after hitting news stands last week – thanks to the generosity of a long-standing family-run business in Wrecclesham.

Scrap metal merchant T Baker (Junr) Ltd has operated from its yard off School Hill for some 60 years, run by six generations of the same family.

In that time, the firm has raised tens of thousands of pounds for Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice and Brain Tumour Research – and jumped at the chance to back the Herald’s Have a Heart campaign.

It’s cheque for £1,500, handed to the Herald by owner Michael White on Monday, will pay for a public-access defibrillator to be installed on the rangers hut at the main entrance to Farnham Park – offering an immediate life-saving solution should any of the thousands of people who use the park every week suffer a cardiac arrest.

Michael was inspired to donate by the sad story of Neil Bradley, a knee consultant at the Royal Surrey County Hospital who suffered a cardiac arrest and died suddenly, aged 55, while on holiday in 2016.

“If they had had a defibrillator by the pool where Neil had his heart attack, then there is a good chance he would have been alive today – but they couldn’t get one to him quickly enough,” he said.

“So I went home last Thursday and read the paper, and thought why can’t we do this? It’s too late to save Neil, but it could save another, even a youngster.”

The Herald has received a number of further donations, including £250 from the Friends of Farnham Park, as well as the backing of Farnham Sports Council, Heartstart Farnham Lions and Waverley Borough Council.

Donations towards the running costs of the defibrillator, and further life-saving devices, can still be made online at www.gofundme.com/heraldhaveaheart

Gail Whattingham, who instigated the campaign alongside fellow Farnham Sports Council member Marion Stockley, said: “I cannot believe it. This is something I have wanted to do for a couple of years, and so to have raised the money so quickly is just amazing. A big thank you to Michael and his company.”

Waverley ranger Nick MacFarlane added Farnham Park was used by “several thousand” people or more every week, including sportsmen and women, families and dog walkers, but currently relies on the ambulance service to respond to any emergencies.

He added it has long been an ambition to install a defibrillator at Farnham Park, but credited the Herald’s Have a Heart campaign for “really driving it forward”.

Keith Harris, of Farnham Lions, said: “It remains a sad statistic that only around one in ten people who suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest actually survive.

“Early intervention with both cardiac pulmonary resuscitation and defibrillator is essential to increase that survival rate.

“So we are very grateful for the help of every organisation that helps us get more defibrillators.”