COMMUNITY responders in Bransgore are celebrating a new vehicle to help them give a better service to patients.

The Bransgore Community Responder Vehicle was handed over on by Gilly Drummond OBE, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire.

It was funded by a host of organisations, including the New Forest Rural Development Programme, Marden Charitable Trust and Bransgore Rotary Club.

The vehicle will be staffed by Bransgore Community Responders and will respond to 999 calls such as cardiac arrests for South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

Mike Jukes, Bransgore Community Responders Scheme co-ordinator, said: “This is the culmination of several years’ effort by the group and many in our community.

“The new vehicle will enable us to operate in all types of adverse weather and to reach areas we would not normally be able to in private cars. “We are grateful to RDPE for the grant and for a generous donation from the Marden Charitable Trust and Bransgore Rotary Club.

“However, it is our community who have really supported us.

“Whether it be a few pennies in a collecting box, or some other form of support, they enable us to keep operating and to provide the service we do in our local area.”

The Community Responder scheme uses trained volunteers who attend emergencies and provide treatment until an ambulance arrives.

Mark Ainsworth, operations director at South Central Ambulance Service, added: “We are really pleased that the Bransgore Community Responders have been successful in obtaining sufficient funding for their new vehicle.

“The grant which has helped get this car on the road will make a tremendous different to the scheme and to the local community.”