Lifesaving kit is finally installed in Star

But locals have been left unhappy at the time it took Fife Council to sort it out.

Last October Star of Markinch Community Council collected over £2000 to have a lifesaving defibrillator installed in the village hall.

But, five months on, and despite numerous promises, the community had to wait until this week – and the installation only came after the Gazette intervened.

Within a day of our call, workmen were on site to install the kit.

Michael Ironside, community council chairman, said: “After being overwhelmed by the community support for the project,

“I have been left thoroughly under-whelmed by the time it has taken for Fife Council to have the device installed,”

“ To my knowledge, we did not require it during that time but if we had, I could only imagine the community outrage it would have caused.”

“I attended the area committee to raise our concerns in January and felt like we were finally getting somewhere.

“A further seven weeks down the line I just couldn’t believe that such an
important lifesaving device had been
sitting in a box gathering dust.

“We are eager to organise community training sessions with East Neuk First Responders but we can’t do this until Fife Council agree to an installation date.”

Fife Council insisted its own electricians did the work, but failures to do it since October had become something of an embarrassment for the community council which worked hard to rally community support for the project.

When the Gazette asked Fife Council to comment on the five-month delay, Gary Daniell, community resources said: “We’ve been progressing this request and I’m pleased that the defibrillator is 
scheduled to be fitted tomorrow (Tuesday).

“I’ve apologised to the community council for the delay, which was unfortunately held up due to a system error.”