Pupils and staff at Ysgol Abersoch have been presented with 10 LifeVac machines after parents braved challenging conditions during a sponsored walk up Snowdon in 2017.

Five parents of pupils at Ysgol Abersoch primary school – Louise Overfield, Dylan Evans, Joanna Pearson, Andy Jones and Dylan Llwyd – were confronted by dark, blustery conditions and 70 to 80mph winds atop Mount Snowdon in their sponsored moonlight walk in 2017, organised to gather funding for the machines. Other parents took part in individual walks to show support for the cause.

LifeVac machines are portable, non-invasive anti-choking devices designed to resuscitate victims of an airway obstruction.

At £80 to £100, they do not come cheap, but the walk up Snowdon received such extensive support that parents secured enough money to purchase 10 machines.

The purchasing of the machines as a last-resort emergency measure will hopefully ensure some safety for school pupils – and the wider public – in rural areas, should they fall victim to choking.

Louise Overfield, one of the parents who took part in the walk said: “After the death of a little girl in Nefyn, who choked on a grape and the death of a five-year-old boy in school in Hull, we decided to buy this equipment as we are 36 miles from the main hospital in Bangor.

“We wanted to also provide the equipment to as many places as possible to prevent another tragedy.

“The community was brilliant and everyone helped Ysgol Abersoch to raise the money.”

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