AN appeal has been set up to install two bleed control kits in Westhoughton after a stabbing last month.

Police were called to Church Street at around 9.15pm on Friday, February 19, after a 17-year-old boy was stabbed in a group attack.

The group fled and the 17-year-old boy was taken to hospital in a serious condition.

A 13-year-old boy and 15-year-old boy were arrested on suspicion of section 18 assault. They have been released under investigation.

Following the shocking incident, Westhoughton resident Jack Forshaw has set up an appeal to raise money to fit two bleed control kits in the town and pay for a defibrillator case.

The kits were developed with the help of an organisation in the Midlands after 26-year-old man Daniel Baird was stabbed to death in Birmingham in 2017.

The Daniel Baird Foundation says the kits help with traumatic injuries or catastrophic bleeding and provide 999 callers a code to access it and guide the user over the phone to use it.

They control bleeding from the source.

Jack, 22, who works as a doorman, said: “I have lived in Westhoughton all my life and the stabbing was the first time I have seen anything like that.

"Hopefully an incident like that won’t happen again but it would be good to have the bleed kits in case it does.”

Jack has asked his friend James Copper, a police officer, to help him.

PC Copper was a director of the former organisation Love Westhoughton, which supported community causes including raising money for defibrillators.

He said: “Westhoughton is usually quite a quiet area for serious crime.

“But having the kits will drastically increase someone’s chances of survival so they will be worth having to save a life.”

If the crowdfunding appeal is successful one of the kits will be installed outside The Bank bar on Market Street.

Owner Mark Sykes said: “We have had two defibrillators installed in the town at The Bank and The White Horse pub after thousands were raised and the bleed kits were something we were looking at before Covid.

"We are really happy to work with Jack and we will put some funding towards it.

"It's important to remember though that Westhoughton is a safe, friendly and supportive community."

To donate to the crowdfunding appeal click here.