A life-saving defibrillator has been installed at a village hall thanks to grant funding.

Using funds from Community Resource Equipment And Medical Equipment Reserve Fund (Creamer Fund) and Braintree Council's community grants scheme, Rayne Village Hall Committee has been able to unveil the new unit at the hall, in Gore Road.

Tony Dome, treasurer of Rayne Village Hall Committee, said: "Rayne Village Hall Committee has been working tirelessly over many years to improve our facilities to enable our village hall and playing fields to be the major hub of our village.

"As a charity who are self funding we are reliant on businesses and groups regularly hiring the hall and field, private hires for parties and our own organised events to enable us to continue to obtain the necessary finance to keep our facilities running.

"We have been discussing obtaining a defibrillator for quite some time and it was our District Councillor who advised we should contact a national organisation to see if we qualified for a unit."

The unit was unveiled at the hall last week. The committee is waiting for confirmation from East of England Ambulance Service to say the unit is now on their system.

Mr Dome said: "It is now comforting to know that due to the generosity of both the Creamer Fund and Braintree Council's community grant scheme we have a defibrillator for our Village even if we hope we never have to use it."