Of approximately 225 members of the tennis centre, it is estimated that around two thirds are over the age of 60 years old. This prompted senior staff at Ross Tennis Centre to get a public access defribulator installed.

John Pelly, director of the company which runs Ross Tennis Centre on Walford Road told residents and councillors of the town about how a grant funded defibrillator has put minds at ease.

Mr Pelly said: “We started to get a little bit twitchy about whether or not it was a responsible thing to have a tennis centre with that many members—not to mention visitors and non-members—without having any kind of facility there for people who might suffer cardiac arrest.”

Research was conducted to work out where the nearest public defibrillator was. It was discovered that there wasn’t one within a few hundred yards of the centre, which raised concerns and prompted organisers to start the process of getting one funded and installed, which was done so in February.