Meet Pilot Dan Mansell
March 5, 2026
2025 Year in Review – Part 1
March 31, 2026
On Tuesday 17 March, we were proud to unveil a potentially lifesaving defibrillator outside our Brockworth charity shop, providing twenty-four-hour public access for the local community.
We were joined by Jake Polledri, former Gloucester Forward and Italian Rugby Union player, who unveiled the defibrillator. Jake is from the Sam Polledri Foundation—a foundation set up in memory of Jake’s brother, Sam, after he sadly passed away from a sudden cardiac arrest in 2022 at just 24 years old. The Sam Polledri Foundation works with our Great Western Hearts programme to fundraise for and install public-accessible defibs in Gloucestershire and Bristol, giving people a greater chance of surviving an out of hospital cardiac arrest.
Local supporters, Brockworth shop staff and customers attended the unveiling, along with Caroline Kivungi, Defibrillator Officer for GWAAC. The installation of the defibrillator comes just after the shop celebrated its first year of trading on the high street. Since opening, the shop has become a valued part of the local community, raising vital funds to support our lifesaving work and offering volunteering opportunities for residents.
Lifesaving CPR and defibrillator training at Brockworth shop
To celebrate the installation of the new Brockworth defibrillator, we recently welcomed local residents to a free drop in session at the shop on 26 March.
Across just two hours, our Heartstarters volunteers taught 24 members of the community how to perform lifesaving CPR and use a defibrillator. Through simple step by step guidance, attendees quickly built the confidence and knowledge needed to respond in an emergency.
It was brilliant to see so many people take the time to learn such vital skills, with a real sense of community spirit throughout the session, all helping to make Brockworth a safer place for everyone.
Why this new defibrillator matters for Brockworth's community
The new defibrillator at our Brockworth shop was installed following a recent cardiac arrest that sadly affected a member of the local community on the village high street in January. In the wake of that event, we partnered with both the Sam Polledri Foundation and SC Electrical, who kindly donated their time to install the device.
Through our Great Western Hearts programme, we're working to save more lives by installing community defibrillators and providing CPR training. In 2025, our busiest year to date, our crew were called to help 145 people suffering a cardiac arrest in Gloucestershire (21% of all missions to Gloucestershire in 2025).
When someone goes into cardiac arrest, early bystander intervention before our crew arrive gives someone their best chance of survival. Every minute without CPR or defibrillation reduces their chance of survival by around 10 percent. This is why having defibrillators publicly accessible and within a five-minute return walk is crucial.
A defibrillator works by delivering an electric shock to the heart to help restore a normal rhythm. When used quickly alongside CPR, defibrillation forms a vital part of the chain of survival, which also includes early recognition of cardiac arrest and calling the emergency services.
We would like to thank the support of local communities, individuals and partnerships, which have helped us place 209 defibrillators across our whole region, including Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire, Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and parts of Wiltshire.
Having these publicly accessible defibs at all times is crucial. You never know who needs it and when they need it. The fact that we can work with GWAAC through our foundation, raising money to put these defibs in, is amazing.
Heartstarters session run outside GWAAC's Brockworth shop
I would like to thank the Sam Polledri Foundation for making this much needed defibrillator possible. It will be a great benefit to the local community, and I hope it raises awareness of heart health and encourages more people to undertake CPR training to help others.
