Efforts to prevent more people dying from heart attacks in St Albans have resulted in a fundraising dinner being organised to help buy two defibrillators.

The 4 Nations Restaurant in George Street, St Albans, will host a not-for-profit fundraising dinner next Wednesday, November 25.

Ticket sales and all money raised during an auction will go towards the installation of defibrillators at the Lodge and Highfield GP surgeries, with surplus funds to be donated to the Open Door charity.

One of the fundraising organisers, Samantha Carroll, whose father, Steven, died suddenly following a heart attack last year, said the aim was to purchase the life-saving equipment as “his death and many others could possibly have been prevented with immediate access to a defibrillator”.

Most deaths from heart disease in the UK are caused by a heart attack. There are around 124,000 heart attacks throughout the UK annually – around 62,000 men and 39,000 women suffer such an attack each year.

Defibrillation is where a patient is given a therapeutic dose of electrical energy to the heart with a device called a defibrillator.

Tickets for the fundraising dinner, which is being held in conjunction with the Lodge and Highfield surgeries and Clearcut Recruitment, are being sold for £42.50 each and include an arrival drink, four-course dinner and half a bottle of wine per person.

Local businesses have thrown their support behind the cause by donating a wide range of services and items including a family portrait session, handmade Christmas wreath, shopping vouchers, silver bracelet and books.

To view the auction lots and for details of how to make a bid by proxy, click here.

For tickets please phone Samantha on 01727 223970 or email her: samantha@clearcutrecruitment.co.uk