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A guitarist who "died on stage" while performing at Pilton Working Men's Club will return to the venue in December to finish what he started.

Rick Payne's heart stopped beating while performing at the club, just a stone's throw away from the Glastonbury Festival site, and he says if it wasn't for festival founder Michael Eavis's foresight, he wouldn't have made it.

Mr Payne collapsed after suffering a cardiac arrest midway through an acoustic guitar performance in June, and was saved by a defibrillator donated to the club by Mr Eavis, who was on hand as villagers guided doctors and paramedics to the remote venue on a dramatic evening.

The musician then spent more than a week in an induced coma as cardiac specialists monitored his condition.

Having made a recovery, Mr Payne will return to the village for "Take 2" on Friday (December 7), and he is spreading the message about the vital need for CPR training and defibrillators in public places.

He said: "Without Michael, there wouldn't have been a defibrillator, I was just so lucky that he had the foresight to put one there, and that Neil Templar [event host at Pilton Working Men's Club] was present as well to do CPR.

"It is those two things really that saved me. If it hadn't have been for those two people, I wouldn't have made it.

"I was lucky, my heart stopped and my pulse stopped and you only have a certain amount of time before the brain stops functioning.

"The CPR wouldn't have been enough on its own, I needed to have my heart restarted by the electrical pulses of the defibrilator.

"It is thanks to Michael and Neil that I am still here and able to return to do the gig again."

'Shocked seven times'

It was another popular acoustic night at the Pilton Stage on Friday, June 1, and the "turn out was very good and the audience very appreciative of this great artist", said event host at Pilton Working Men's Club Neil Templar.

He said: "Then, having played for around thirty minutes, at the end of a song, Rick could be seen to suddenly roll very slowly forward from his seat onto the floor where he lay motionless.

"Realising that something was very wrong I immediately went to Rick. He was completely unresponsive. He wasn’t breathing and had no pulse. Rick was rolled onto his back and chest compressions started.

"Thankfully, Michael Eavis had provided Pilton with three defibrillators which were located at different points around the village and one was quickly brought up from the outside wall of the club and attached to Rick.

"By now the room had been cleared of most people and the chest compressions continued to be applied for about 35 minutes during which time Rick was analysed and shocked seven times by the defibrillator."

Mr Payne, 63, who has written and performed music for the likes of the BBC and Channel 4, says he can't remember anything from the night, aside from waving goodbye to his wife at their home in Wells.

He said: "I know that I turned up for the gig, all happy apparently, did the sound check with Neil, and then I must have been three or four songs in when I am told I suddenly just collapsed on the stage.

"Neil just persisted with the CPR and the defibrillator until the experts arrived. He actually managed to crack my sternum and some ribs while doing it, which was sore when I woke up, but it's better to be sore than not here anymore!

"As it was dark and Pilton is in the middle of nowhere, I am told there were people out around the village waving flags to guide the paramedics and doctors to the club."

A specialist cardiac team and an ambulance arrived at the venue and around three hours after Rick first collapsed, he was transported to the specialist cardiac unit at Bristol Royal Infirmary.

Mr Payne said: "I was in a coma in hospital for just over a week, I collapsed on June 1 and woke up seven or eight days later.

"There were complications while I was in hospital and I actually had three cardiac arrests in total, one in Pilton and two while I was in hospital, so they kept having to induce me into a coma."

Triumphant return

After his recovery, Mr Payne returned to Pilton to pick up the guitars that he had left behind after the dramatic evening, and met up with some of the people that had helped save him.

He will be back again in Pilton to perform on Friday, December 7.

He said: "It has been a long road to recovery since June, I have been to cardiac rehab where they gave me confidence in physical activity and exercise again.

"I wasn't a great exercise person before, but now I am doing a lot more exercise, trying to eat healthy and drink less alcohol.

"Doing the gig again in the same place will be strange, if I think if I had done it elsewhere I would have left it unfinished, so doing it again in Pilton will give me a sense of closure so I can move on.

"It will also be great to say hello again to the people that saved me as well."

Now having fully recovered, Mr Payne is keen for something positive to come from this experience in the hope that it might benefit others.

He added: "A cardiac arrest can happen to anyone at any age. Everyone is at risk at any time, you have to be aware.

"It might happen to me again, who knows, there is no guarantee for anyone walking this earth that it will not happen to them.

"The CPR chain of survival is so important because that first 20 or 30 minutes before the experts arrive is all important.

"I would implore everyone reading this to just take a step back and think about doing some CPR training.

"You won't know until it happens to you how important these things are."

Admission to Mr Payne's "come-back gig" at Pilton Working Men's Club is free, but any donations will be collected and sent to The British Heart Foundation.

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