Young aspiring footballers have become community lifesavers by learning vital skills to help others in an emergency.

Young trainees at Norwich City Football Club took part in a course organised as part of the British Heart Foundation’s (BHF) nation of lifesavers campaign.

The course aims to reduce the number of lives that are lost following a cardiac arrest.

Nearly 40 young footballers at the club’s academy took part in the special training session where they learnt how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and practiced their newly gained skills on manikins.

Richard Money, academy manager at NCFC, said: “Our aim is to give our young players the values and experiences that will help them both on and off the pitch.

“There is no more important skill than knowing how to save someone’s life and by giving our trainees the know-how to respond in an emergency we hope to have contributed to saving more lives in the future.”

More than 30,000 cardiac arrests happen out of hospital in the UK every year, but currently less than one in ten survive.

In an effort to change this, the BHF has been working to increase the number of people who know how to do CPR.

More than one million people have been trained since the campaign was launched in 2014.

Dawne Hart, fundraising manager at the BHF, said: “Thousands of lives are lost every year because people lack the confidence and skills to step in and save a life when someone collapses.

“By joining our nation of lifesavers campaign Norwich City FC are helping to create a country where knowing CPR is a normal part of life.”

The BHF was founded in 1961 by a group of medical professionals wanting to fund extra research into the causes, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of heart and circulatory disease. Its famous heartbeat logo was designed in 1971 by Sheila Harrison, one of its regional organisers at the time.

- For more information about learning CPR or fundraising for the British Heart Foundation contact Dawne Hart at the charity via email on hartd@bhf.org.uk.