LIFESAVING equipment has been installed at a Worcester pub following a fundraising drive by a "hero" barman.

John Holmes, who has worked behind the bar at the Prince of Wales in Warndon for almost three years, featured in your Worcester News in July after he saved the life of June Wallis, after she collapsed at the pub while celebrating a friend's birthday.

Mr Holmes, a trained first responder with the British Red Cross, jumped in to action, performing CPR until paramedics arrived to take Mrs Wallis to hospital.

Thanks to support from customers and the Worcester Branch of the Oddfellows, Mr Holmes raised around £700 to buy the cabinet for the defibrillator to go in, after West Midlands Ambulance Service donated the device.

He said: "I'm so pleased we've finally got a defibrillator in place, and that if anything like what happened to June ever happens in the pub again, we will be able to help them and hopefully save another life.

"They are so easy to use. People can be scared to use them but you literally just follow exactly what it says you should do. They are fantastic devices and I want to thank everyone who made this possible."

Mr Holmes was also presented with a trophy from colleagues, friends and family.

Mrs Wallis said that although she will never fully recover from the heart failure, she feels better and better all the time and knows she is lucky to be alive.

"If John hadn't known what to do, I wouldn't be here. He brought me back to life. It just shows how vital it is that more people learn first aid. I'm so glad we decided to go to the party that day. Usually we wouldn't have, but if we hadn't and I'd collapsed at home I wouldn't be here today to thank him."