Thanks to Maxine for this latest news from Newport Parish Council. Ed
WightSAR is a charitable organisation, that does not receive any government or public funding. The group totally relies on charitable donations to provide its services to the community and for the purchase of vital equipment.
The Councillors were told that Wightsar’s primary responsibility is to save life and consequently they are commonly activated and tasked during the first few vital hours of a high risk missing person report.
Ten incidents in 2014
WightSAR provides properly trained and equipped volunteers to assist official agencies in searching for missing vulnerable people. This includes the elderly, children and those deemed a risk to themselves. In 2014 they were deployed 15 times to ten separate incidents and also had another additional three standby requests that never materialized to a call out.
The Parish Council was shown an example of an insulated jacket used by the volunteers, these jackets cost £150 each and it was agreed to donate £600 to fund four jackets.
Vice chairman in training to become a volunteer
The Chairman of the Parish Council, Cllr Julie Jones-Evans, presented the cheque to the WightSAR Chairman, Dean Terrett, at one of their training sessions, she was accompanied by the parish vice chairman, Cllr Lois Prior, who is training to be a volunteer with WightSAR.
Cllr Jones-Evans said,
“The councillors were very impressed by the professionalism of the volunteer group and the excellent work that they carry out in assisting the main emergency services. We were pleased to donate funds towards the jackets which are essential equipment items for the volunteers.”
Image: NPC Chairman Cllr Julie Jones Evans presenting the donation cheque to WightSAR Chairman Dean Terrett
