A vital Isle of Wight volunteer service not only raised crucial funds but also raised awareness of the work they do when they took position in the foyer of a busy Newport supermarket earlier this month.
WightSAR, an Isle of Wight volunteer search and rescue organisation, are totally funded by donations from companies on the Island, as well as donations from members of the public. Collection days such as the one held at Sainsbury’s Newport are fantastic to allow the team to meet those donators and to advertise the fact that the team are there in an hour of need, at a moments notice.
The close-knit organisation was born from the need of an Island-based search team when a major incident happened in Parkhurst Forest back in 2008. The nearest search team was located on the mainland and took around 4 hours to rendezvous with emergency services at the site. Through hard work and dedication, the team broke away from the regional HantSAR (Hampshire Search and Rescue) in 2011 and passed the Association of Lowland Search and Rescue assessment the following year.
The volunteers assist Hampshire Constabulary and other agencies in the search for vulnerable missing persons on the Isle of Wight and other related incidents. The team are professionally trained to the ALSAR national search standard requirements including search techniques, first aid and map reading and are equipped so that they can be self sufficient for at least 8 hours on a search. Volunteers come from all sorts of different walks of life, including plumbers, plasterers, prison officers, teachers and train drivers who, once a fortnight, get together for training and can deploy and a moments notice.
The team raised £434 from collection buckets at Sainsbury’s on 1st February and will continue fundraising efforts throughout the year.
You can find out more about WightSAR, how to donate and how to join the team at https://www.wightsar.org/.
