Teachers, publicans and shopkeepers are on call this week as Coniston's new emergency service went live.

Ten villagers from all walks of life are all packing pagers, ready to be dispatched to an emergency with the Coniston First Responders.

The group will offer life-saving assistance until paramedics can get to the scene, including emergency resusitation using their own defibrillator machine to shock ailing hearts back into action.

It is the latest team to be formed as part of the First Responders scheme which has stretched out across the county in the last five years. It now has 845 volunteers in 54 different units including ones at Ambleside, Hawkshead and Torver. Between them they attended 1,274 life-threatening emergencies in 2003/4 and saved numerous lives.

Coniston's group treasurer Graham Aldridge said the group was vitally important to the village.

"Whichever way the ambulance is coming, from Ambleside or Ulverston, it could take 20 minutes to half-an-hour to reach Coniston depending on traffic and the availability of the ambulance. We would hope to be with a patient within five minutes of an emergency call. It's a difference which can save lives."

The group got together in the autumn after an appeal for volunteers was issued by Coniston Parish Council.

It soon found support among the parish population for a fund-raising campaign to support the service and buy the essential £1,000 defribrillator and pagers for team members.

A dance staged in February raised an impressive £2,000 and another lakeside concert and barbecue organised by Katie Blundell rallied nearly £700 despite being doused with rain.

Support in kind from Burlington Slate and the Cumbria Fire Service has also helped the team. The local quarry firm built them a tough, secure box at Coniston Fire Station to house their equipment for free.

Grants from the British Heart Foundation, Coniston Parish Council, Coniston 14, Cumbria County Council's Neighbourhood Forum and an anonymous donation from a local couple have also helped make good the scheme.

Mr Aldridge said recent emergencies in Coniston, including the death of a man who had a heart attack trying to start his boat, had shown the service was necessary.

"At the end of the day you may not alter the outcome but at least someone is there who has tried."