A £1,000 defibrillator has been installed at a community centre used by hundreds of people after fundraising by a voluntary group.

The Lions Club of Bournemouth held a Healthy Happy Living event at Kinson Community Centre on Saturday, September 17, which aimed to enable residents to learn more about the health services and social activities available in the town.

As part of the event, which was sponsored by Towry Law, the mayor of Bournemouth, Cllr Eddie Coope, took a look around the various stands in the centre on Millhams Road presented the defibrillator to the community centre on behalf of the Lions Club.

Barbara Jeremiah, PR officer for the club, said: "We had a pantomime which we performed at Kinson Community Centre at Christmas. Some of the money was raised then and we have raised some more towards it since for defibrillator, which costs around £1,000.

"Hundreds of people come through the doors of the community centre each week and I was surprised to see that it didn't have one already."

Speaking about the day-long event, she said: "We called it a Healthy Happy Living event because somebody may be physically healthy but they are lonely.

"We organised it because Lions like to help people in the local community and the mayor of Bournemouth from a few years ago asked the Lions to put on an event like this.

"We had Bournemouth Blind Society attending because the founder of Lions Clubs International, Melvin Jones, was challenged by a deaf and blind woman, Helen Keller, to make Lions as knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness.

"People of all ages were invited to come along and try various things out including trichology, chiropractics, mini massages, tae kwondo and we had a choir performing."

Organisations which attended included the Special Olympics Bournemouth and District, Dorset Older People's Partnership, LiveWell Dorset, Rising Voices Community Choir, Dorset PCaSO Prostate Cancer Network, Probus Clubs and Brendoncare.

The Lions Club of Bournemouth had its own stand, which featured both the local and global work of the Lions Clubs International.

Members also promoted their message in a bottle, which involves a pot, which Barbara says are available at all doctor's surgeries, containing the person's medical details and any medication that they take. This is then placed in the fridge, with a sticker to be placed on the outside of the fridge door and another to be placed on the back of the front door of the property.