HEARTSTART Farnham Lions, the voluntary group providing emergency life support skills courses in the area, has announced the dates for its next round of free classes.

The team trained a record 575 people in life-saving skills last year and hopes to exceed that number this year - starting with six courses on January 20, 27, February 17, 24, March 16 and 23.

All classes take about two hours and are essentially free, although voluntary donations are welcome. They commence at 7pm and are held at the St John Ambulance hall near Waitrose, Farnham.

Second quarter dates, at a similar frequency, will be announced before the end of February.

Since its launch in July 2012, Heartstart Farnham Lions has gone from strength to strength, being joined by cardiac professor Tom Quinn as medical director in 2015 and also reinforced by the addition of two new instructors, with another is undergoing training.

Growing interest is now being shown by the public in automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) and publicly accessible ones (PADs) are now appearing throughout the town - with eight installed to date.

Farnham Lions Club is an enthusiastic and leading supporter of this project and the safe use of these truly life-saving devices is one of the subjects being taught by the Heartstart team.

Further information and booking facilities can be found online www.heartstartfarnhamlions.co.uk or phone Keith 01252 723319.