Night of music raises more than £700 for life-saving defibrillator

A concert has raised more than £700 for a life saving defibrillator.

Water Village Band held an evening of music and raised £746.20 to purchase a defibrillator to be placed on the outside wall of Lumb Baptist Church. The Rev Steve Ansell, Minister at Lumb Baptist Church said: “We had no idea how much the concert would raise, but with the church almost full and with extra donations made on the night we raised an amazing £746.20.

“The church had already raised almost £200 at coffee mornings and so it was decided to make up the shortfall from church funds and to order the defibrillator straight away. The concert was a fantastic event; Water Village Band gave us a fabulous evening with a great variety of music and a lot of fun.

“It’s certainly an asset for Lumb and Water to have the band based in the two villages.”

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Band Chairman, Tim Nuttall, said: “This was our thank you to the church for helping us during the Covid lockdowns and our bandroom refurbishment and we’re really pleased that not only could we hold a concert in our own village, but also that we could raise funds for such a good cause.

“Our musical director, Mike Rourke, put together a programme of pieces which took everyone on a journey from Lumb to Manchester then around the world and back again to The Valley with our final piece, the march ‘Rossendale’ which we think was written specially for our band around a hundred years ago.

“We’ve been practising since January and it was a lot of hard work, but as a community band it was well worth while being able to play for our own community.”

The concert was also attended by the new Mayor of Rossendale, Cllr Judith Driver, and her Consort for the evening Cllr Michelle Smith.

It was the mayor’s first event following her installation the previous evening and both the band and the church expressed their thanks to her for attending so soon after taking on her role as First Citizen of Rossendale.

Now that the order for a defibrillator has been placed, the charity ‘Community Defibs For Rossendale’ will be providing the housing box for the equipment so that it can be placed on the outside wall of the church to provide round the clock access whenever it is needed in an emergency.