Stan Blandford

Stan was the most kind and wonderful man anyone ever knew. He loved being at home with his family, working hard out on the farm and enjoyed his hobbies of golf, singing in local choirs and playing the trumpet.

Although extremely busy, Stan always had time for people … to stop for a chat or readily help in anyway at any time. He certainly made the most of every day with a smile and enthusiasm for each task that came his way.

Then totally unexpectedly on the morning of 10 May 2013, Stan suffered a major heart attack whilst out tending to his cattle. He was 55 years old.

Nothing was out of the ordinary-he got up at the usual time,brought me a cup of tea in bed and gave me a goodbye kiss before leaving the house to do his early morning work with the cattle. Stan normally came home around 7:45 am and then would take Mark to catch the school bus. But that morning he didn’t return and so Mark went up to the farm buildings. He found his Dad lay unconscious in the yard. Mark immediately phoned 999 and began CPR. Concerned that neither Stan nor Mark had returned home, I then ran up to the farm and was horrified to discover what had happened. We live in a most beautiful but rural part of the country and unfortunately had to wait almost 30 minutes for a First Responder to arrive. Sadly, during this time, CPR alone was not enough to save Stan.

Had there been a defibrillator in our village and had we been aware of how use the equipment, who knows what the difference might have been. For this reason we are delighted to now be raising funds for our own community defibrillator. Not only will this be a lasting and fitting legacy to a much respected and liked man but hopefully someone else can have that better chance. We are devastated-it seems incomprehensible that someone so fit and active could be suddenly gone. But we are also so thankful to have shared our lives with this lovely amazing man.

Stan was a true gentle-man who quietly and unassumingly made a huge difference in the short time he had. Thank you to everyone for supporting us so generously!

By his wife Ruth and children Tom aged 25, James aged 23, Katie aged 21 and Mark aged 16.