UK education activity provider PGL’s Little Canada centre hosted the assessment weekend for new volunteers for Isle of Wight Search & Rescue (WightSAR). After undertaking a period of intense training, 6 new volunteers spent their final training weekend at the activity centre. After the intense weekend, all of them passed their formal assessments and joined the operational team. For Dean Terrett BEM, Chairman & Founder of WightSAR, the support from Little Canada is essential to their training programme.
“We very much value the generosity and support of Little Canada in hosting this year’s assessment weekend. It is invaluable to us, as having a training venue on the Island means we are able to reduce costs as well as give practical experience in local terrain. “For many years our volunteers would need to travel to the mainland to complete their training, and self-fund their accommodation and travel which we appreciate will be difficult for some people to do. Hosting this on the island makes becoming a volunteer with us much more accessible. “The team at PGL have been amazing with their support and really value the work that we do. We are able to reassign our funds directly into operational resources which is invaluable to us.”
Little Canada’s vast space means it provides the group with a large area for skills training as well as a wooded area to provide evacuation training and a team on hand to support as well as food and accommodation. With no government funding and completely volunteer run, WightSAR depends hugely on grants and fundraising. Laura Cook, Guest Experience Manager at PGL’s Little Canada, said:
“We have seen directly what valuable work the WightSAR team do. We understand that with lots of visitors across the whole of the Isle of Wight each year, their work can be necessary at any time, so we are happy to provide some help and support to the valuable work that they do.”
For more information on how you can support WightSAR go to www.WightSAR.org
