DENTDALE First Responder group has gone live after more than 18 months of fund-raising and planning.

The group is one of several in the county that have been set up under a Cumbria Ambulance Service initiative.

First Responders are alerted by the ambulance control room at the same time as the ambulance is called in an emergency and, because volunteers live locally, they can arrive on the scene quickly, to provide support and assistance to heart patients and their family.

The Dentdale scheme was set up on the initiative of the Dentdale WI, which saw it as a fitting way to celebrate its 60th anniversary.

The WI did much of the early organisation and fund-raising, but handed over the running of the group to a new committee in March.

Dozens of people and organisations have pitched in to raise the money to set up the Dentdale scheme.

The WI raised more than £700 in various imaginative ways (collecting small change in sweet tubes and organising a cookery demonstration), Dent School had a fun run that raised more than £500, Baliol School donated £600 from its fete proceeds, Dent Folk Festival gave £400 and Dent Football Club raised more than £1,100 with a sponsored walk up Whernside.

The largest single contribution to the group's funds was from the Hadfield Trust, which gave a grant of nearly £4,000.

The British Heart Foundation met half the cost of two automatic external defibrillators. Significant grants were also received from Dent Combined Charities, Cumbria County Council (through the Sedbergh and Kirkby Lonsdale Neighbourhood Forum) and the Cumbria Community Foundation.

Nearly £12,000 has been raised to date.

The Dentdale scheme covers the whole valley from Catholes to Dent Head, and the biggest challenge has been to set up an effective communication system in an area with poor pager and mobile phone reception.

The scheme is currently using a "cascade" system. The call for assistance is sent by text message from the ambulance control room to First Responders who live in Dent village.

They then relay the message by land line to other members of the scheme further up the valley, towards Cowgill and beyond, who live out of range of the pager or mobile phone signal.

The first priority for the group will be to improve this communications system as and when that proves possible.

Becky Brown, chairman of the Dentdale group's committee, said: "Many people have been involved in getting the scheme off the ground in a magnificent community effort, but now that we are up and running, we need more people to train as First Responders, act as committee members and come up with good fund-raising ideas to meet the continuing costs of the scheme."

Anyone able to contribute should contact Ms Brown on 015396-25542.