Mike Pinkerton cycled from Glasgow to Edinburgh last year in aid of St John’s and the City and raised over £5,000 together with his wife Morvern.
The money raised is enough to pay for four defibrillators, one of which is already installed on an Edinburgh tram, one will be sited at the foot of the Scott Monument, another will be installed at the newly refurbished Museum of Childhood and one has now been installed at the Boardwalk Beach Club on the seafront near Cramond.
Two events led to the handover of the new defibrillator at the Boardwalk Beach Club.
One happened to Mike himself who happily survived. He is often behind the news as media manager at The City of Edinburgh Council, but one day he was the news.
He had just been cycling along the promenade with his young son Joel who had been given a new bike for his birthday. Mike told us the rest of the story : “I have a very personal experience of this having had a near-death experience some two and a half years ago. As it happened I wasn’t saved by a defibrillator but by a very able vet who I was visiting at the time up on Queensferry Road to buy some special food for our elderly cat. I collapsed in their surgery.
“I am very lucky to still be here and I thought it was a good opportunity to raise some money and to raise awareness of the benefits of people learning how to do CPR. Also it is important not to be afraid to use either CPR or defibrillators.”
Sadly Ron Connelly who became ill during a park run at Cramond near the Boardwalk Beach Club. died in October last year, despite the best efforts of both fellow park runners and the staff of the café.
Mike’s mother-in-law was at the café just after this and got chatting to Eddie about Mike and his fundraising efforts. The rest as they say is history.
Eddie Tait who owns the Boardwalk Beach Club. is delighted to take delivery of the new defibrillator which is now installed on one of the outside walls there. He told us : “It is very important for all the people on the promenade. There are many people out exercising , old and young and then there are all the park runners. You never know when something might happen, when you might need one. It is a very isolated location here, and we don’t benefit from any street lighting. It is very secluded with about a mile in every direction to residential areas.
“This is an amazing promenade which is getting busier and with more people you never know when someone might have a cardiac arrest.
“Unfortunately someone did die last year. The gentleman had four children, and although we tried to help him he died later that day.”
The Boardwalk Beach Club. is open Wednesday to Sunday from 10.00am to 6.00pm but the defibrillator is available all the time as it is situated outside.
We asked Lynn Cleal, St John’s Fundraising Chair for Edinburgh, who is behind the St John and the City project to distribute defibrillators across Edinburgh, how to use the life-saving device.
She explained : “It is very easy, you don’t need any training. There are two buttons – on/off and shock. As soon as you turn the defibrillator on it talks you through what to do. Fortunately it will only work if the person really needs a shock. It is not possible to hurt someone using this.”
Have you noticed the new defibrillator at @BoardwalkBeach ? It was just handed over last week… @StJohnScot pic.twitter.com/ODU4H3mNrX
— Edinburgh Reporter (@EdinReporter) March 28, 2018
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
