A South Wales Police Federation member who used a defibrillator to save a person’s life has been recognised for his work in setting up a network of them in his local community.

Detective constable Steve Davies has raised more than £50,000 to pay for and install 37 defibrillators in the villages of Tonyrefail and Gilfach Goch.

He has also provided training in the use of the equipment to school children and community groups.

Now his selfless work has been recognised by a panel at Downing Street with a ‘Points of Light’ award and a letter from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Detective constable Steve Davies.

The award acknowledges outstanding volunteers who are making a change in their community. He has also received a Heart of Gold Award from the Force.

Steve, a police officer of more than 20 years, said: “I was gobsmacked. I’ve never done it for recognition.

“I’ve done it for the benefit of the community I grew up in and my children are growing up in.

Steve was motivated to raise money for the defibrillators after saving a person’s life using the equipment in Maerdy in 2016.

“We live not far away from where that happened and I thought we haven’t got any of those in our village,” he added.

Fundraising

“I went on Facebook and put on a post asking if people would help do some fundraising to get one defibrillator and it grew from there.

“We’ve got a little community group that I chair. We’ve fundraised and applied for different grants, including from the National Lottery, Tesco and the Co-Op.”

Steve said the nomination for the Points of Light award came from a South Wales Police colleague who lives in the same village.

He ended: “We were on a course in London last year and I did a presentation on the defibrillator group and he stood up and said ‘that’s you?’.

“He lives in the same village but we’ve never met before.

“We do it for the community and the support of everyone has been fantastic.”

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