A CALL has gone out for people to once again back a campaign to ensure everyone in Bicester is within minutes of a defibrillator.

Church trustees in the town pledged to bring the round-the-clock life-saving equipment to the area in August.

But despite a good start to the campaign, organisers have said there remains a 'long way to go' after totting up over a dozen areas still in desperate need of a public defibrillator.

Bicester Methodist Church has been working closely with South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) divisional commander Dick Tracey to make sure nobody is ever more than eight minutes away from a defibrillator.

The church's project coordinator Mike Black said: "SCAS has identified a further fourteen areas of Bicester which would benefit from these machines.

"This will require a huge effort by the people and businesses of Bicester as we will need a further £30,000 to ensure that those who suffer a cardiac arrest within our town have the maximum chance of recovery."

So far, the campaign has raised enough money to buy its first public defibrillator, which is to be installed at the church in Bell Lane.

Five more defibrillators have also been pledged by various community groups and charities in town including two from the Bicester Lions Club.

Member Tony Hallas said Lions Club of Bicester will be celebrating the centenary of Lions Clubs International this year and as part of the celebrations the Bicester club have already decided to fund two defibrillators after meeting with Dick Tracey earlier this year.

The campaign was originally launched after project coordinator Mr Black was looking into getting a defibrillator for the church as it is a central location in Sheep Street.

But speaking within the community found that Bicester only had about five town centre defibrillators, none of which were available 24 hours-a-day.

Several defibrillators are based in doctors' surgeries, rendering them out of action outside working hours.

The trustees hope to raise awareness of such a vital necessity for the town and to eventually secure 20 defibrillators.

Mr Black said: "The placement of 20 machines in our town will require the cooperation of landlords, as their consent will be necessary to hardwire the machines into their electricity supply.

"We will also need volunteer custodians to check the machines each week to ensure they are in working order and report to SCAS.

"This is not onerous as the checks are visual and can be carried out in under a minute. They are very important as SCAS need to be able to direct potential users to machines that are working."