Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and MP Ruth Edwards attended West Bridgford Colts FC on Wednesday 16th August to see the great work they do for young people in the local community and to find out more about Project Three Minutes – A standard Defibrillator Localising Flag to improve response times in the event of a Sudden Cardiac Arrest.

In recent years, a number of children participating in sporting activities, have sadly died following a sudden cardiac arrest. Whilst many sports clubs and community centres now have a defibrillator on site, there is currently no recognised national signage of a precise defibrillator location.

Dr Patrick Davies, a consultant in paediatric critical care and Marijke van Eerd, a paediatric advanced clinical practitioner formed Project Three Minutes to awareness of the locations of defibrillators by creating an orange ‘defibrillator’ flag - saving vital, lifesaving, seconds to identify the location of a defibrillator in the event a sudden cardiac arrest – the flags can be used by any organisation that has a lifesaving defibrillator in the community.

Following the tragic death of Dylan Rich in September 2021, where Dylan collapsed of a sudden cardiac arrest during an FA Youth Cup game, West Bridgford Colts FC Chairman, Peter Stansbury, and his club have been keen to raise awareness and support initiatives in response to sudden cardiac arrests; West Bridgford Colts FC has purchased a number of orange flags to highlight where their defibrillators are located.

Nottinghamshire FA is keen to collaborate with Project Three Minutes and would like to support football clubs across Nottinghamshire to use an orange defibrillator flag to highlight where a defibrillator is situated.

CEO, Elaine Oram and DSO, Rachael Wilks from Nottinghamshire FA, also attended West Bridgford Colts FC where they spoke to prime minister Rishi Sunak regarding the work the County FA is currently doing to support clubs by providing free face-to-face defibrillator training to grassroots football clubs.

West Bridgford Colts FC are the largest youth football club in the country with 1,650 players and 141 teams. The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak praised the volunteers for all their hard work in making the club such a success. MP Ruth Edwards also spoke of the importance of grassroots clubs in our local community as well as the impact of West Bridgford Colts FC and the amazing work they do in our county. 

On a day when the Lionesses made history by reaching the World Cup Final, it was great to see such coverage of a great club that have had many players go on to play professionally including Lionesses goalkeeping star Mary Earps. 

Chairman of the club, Peter Stansbury said "West Bridgford Colts were proud to host the Prime Minister at our home ground in West Bridgford today. West Bridgford Colts is the biggest grassroots club in the country and it was a great opportunity to talk to the Prime Minister about the successes, opportunities and challenges we have as a club. 

The success of the Lionesses today and over recent years has led to a huge increase in interest in our club and demand for places at our club. Whilst we provide opportunities for over 1600 players we have a waiting list of 100 and with more facilities we can provide more opportunities for all local children to play sport and gain the social and physical benefits of it.

The Prime Minister was very engaged and interested in our club and spent a long time talking with our children. It was a privilege to showcase our club to the Prime Minister and discuss our plans to provide even more children the chance to play the beautiful game."