Bridgetown Alive! has lived up to its name thanks to an initiative to install a series of lifesaving defibrillators on the Totnes estate.

Members of the community group came up with the plan during one of their regular meetings in January last year and have since raised enough money for three defibrillators.

Each cost some £1,600 to buy and install and were paid for thanks to an anonymous donor, a contribution from the winding down of the Totnes Carnival fund along with Bridgetown Alive’s! own pot of money.

There are now defibrillators at St John’s Church, Bridgetown Community Hall and Stafford Court at Westonfields – which was recently used “in earnest” said Bridgetown Alive! chairman, Richard Mitchell.

He added: “It makes real sense to install these terrific devices where the people live.

“We have some 5,000 members of the Bridgetown community, and they deserve all the support and resources that can be made available to them.”

A fourth defibrillator has been bought by Dart Totnes Rowing Club which it has installed on the wall of its clubhouse at Longmarsh.

And Berry Pomeroy Parish Council is planning to install a fifth defibrillator in the decommissioned phone box at the junction of Furze Road and Duke’s Road.