A lifesboat station has installed a community defibrillator to help save more lives on land and at sea.

The trustees of Browns Club in Towyn were behind the life-saving equipment, which has been put in place on a wall alongside the shop at Rhyl RNLI.

The club have been long term supporters of the station, providing jumpers, shirts and more to the crew in previous years.

Paul Frost, deputy second coxswain at Rhyl Lifeboat, said: “Dave Jones, club secretary, contacted [Rhyl lifeboat coxswain] Martin Jones, asking how the club could help the station this year.

“The topic came round to providing a defibrillator for community use on the outside of the station. He then contacted Leigh Clayton, community first responder team manager and ex-crew member, and set the wheels in motion to provide the equipment.”

The defibrillator is for public use. When someone dials 999 for the ambulance, they will be asked to quote the unit reference number and be given a code to unlock the case.

The unit is described as very “intuitive” and can be operated by anyone, even with no experience of first aid.

Mr Jones said: “The trustees are delighted that the money we raised, through various fundraising efforts over the past year, has resulted in helping our local lifeboat charity and the community in general.”

Mr Clayton said: “The first responders team from Rhyl and Prestatyn are delighted that this unit is now on stream and hope this will enable our members to deliver good casualty care to the people on Rhyl promenade.”

As the teams were preparing for their photo call to highlight the new equipment, the inshore lifeboat was called out after receiving reports that people had been seen swimming out at Splash Point Rhyl to retrieve two life rings. When on scene, the lifeboat found the people had returned to the shore. The life rings were recovered and handed to coastguard volunteers.