Heart charity in the spotlight at match (From Cotswold Journal)

Heart charity in the spotlight at match

11:00am Thursday 14th March 2013 in News By Freya Leng

A SHIPSTON charity’s lifesaving campaign stole the spotlight at a recent Championship football derby.

Bolton Wanderers’ Championship tie with Blackburn Rovers was the official match of the Arrhythmia Alliance’s Hearts and Goals campaign, which is fronted by former Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba.

A team from the charity travelled to the Reebok Stadium to see the home team win 1-0 over their rivals and raise awareness of the campaign.

They were joined by Fabrice, who spoke to fans about the campaign and the importance of public-access defibrillators, raising £650 in the process.

A defibrillator was handed over to Blackburn Rovers by Mr Muamba in front of the crowd at half-time on behalf of the campaign, and the campaign’s details flashed on the club’s big screens and advertising hoardings.

Trudie Lobban, Arrhythmia Alliance founder and chief executive, said: “This was a fantastic event to raise awareness of our Hearts and Goals campaign, which continues to go from strength to strength.

“It was great to see so many people take the campaign to heart at the game and Fabrice’s support continues to help us to promote the lifesaving potential of defibrillators (AEDs) in communities.

His case is a perfect example of just how important these life-saving devices are and it has been wonderful to see people join Hearts and Goals in increasing numbers to fund-raise for an AED.”

Since the campaign was launched in October to tackle cardiac arrest, more than 125 defibrillators have already been placed in communities up and down the country, with more fundraising efforts under way.

􀁥 Bolton Wanderers chose Arrhythmia Alliance as its national charity partner for the 2012/13 season in light of Fabrice Muamba’s sudden cardiac arrest.