New Ash Green residents will be learning how to save the life of someone suffering a cardiac arrest.

Residents will be taught how to use the village's new Public Access Defibrillator (PAD) on September 2.

A new PAD has been installed outside the Village Association office in Centre Road with money obtained by the Sevenoaks District Seniors Action Forum (SDSAF) from the Big Lottery Fund and with help from the Village Association and local Councillors. It is available 24 hours a day and can be used by anyone without specialised training.

At Tuesday's meeting, Steve Plater, who is a member of SDSAF and a St John Ambulance volunteer, will demonstrate how to use the defibrillator to resuscitate a patient whose heart has stopped beating.

A defibrillator works by delivering an electric shock to the patient to kick-start the heart when it has lost its normal rhythm.

The automated PAD will guide its user with audible messages and it is designed to monitor the patient's heart at the same time so it will only deliver a shock if the heart is not beating properly.

The meeting on Tuesday is at 7pm in New Ash Green Village Hall and it is open to everyone.

Sevenoaks District Councillor and Village Association Director, Cameron Clark, said: "I was delighted when I heard that a grant had been received to provide a defibrillator for New Ash Green. "Over 6,000 people live in the village and if this helps to save the life of just one of them, it will have proved its worth many times over."