THE British Heart Foundation has teamed up with Clacton Pier to highlight a vital campaign to save lives.

The landmark attraction will be lit up red to highlight an annual training event which raises awareness about cardiac arrest and helps people learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) techniques.

The aim is to give people life-saving skills – as well as the confidence to be able to use them when it really matters.

The Restart a Heart Day is being held on October 16 and last year more than 291,000 people were trained on that one day.

In the current situation most of this training will be provided digitally, to provide safe and effective CPR.

Darren Couchman, BHF’s Essex fundraising manager, said the campaign is a crucial initiative and can make such a difference if someone suffers a cardiac arrest.

“We are keen to raise awareness, provide education and training, which will increase the chances of a person’s life being saved should someone suffer a cardiac arrest,” he said.

“Every minute is critical and a trained person on the scene can be the difference between life and death.

“I am delighted that Clacton Pier, which is in my hometown, is backing this event and will be turning red from October 16 to 18 to help us raise awareness.”

Darren has also set up a Just Giving page for people to make donations along with further information about the BHF and the campaign at justgiving.com/fundraising/clactonpiergoesred The British Heart Foundation is the largest funder of research into heart and circulatory diseases in the UK.

Pier director Elliot Ball said that the landmark has a lighting facility which can be put to good use to support community events such as this.

“We are proud to be able to back Darren and the British Heart Foundation and if we can even help save just one life it will be well worth it,” he added