Latest News from WightSAR

June 2024 News …………

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It has been a while since we updated our news.  Not that there hasn’t been a lot going on ………. 

 

The Fundraising Team continue to find opportunities to raise vital operational funds and our wish list of equipment is ever growing.

 

Just a few examples……

 

The Isle of Wight Ultra Challenge team made a very generous donation to thank us for supporting the race, including the overnight challenge. The Team really enjoyed being involved and hope to do the same next year when two of our own members take on the Challenge!! Watch this space.

 

Store Collection Days continue, with our continued thanks to M & S (Newport), Tesco Extra (Ryde), Asda and new to us, Waitrose (East Cowes).  It is always a pleasure chatting to customers and staff.

 

The famous Tracey & Pete Asher held one of their very special quizzes in aid of WightSAR. The WightSAR Team sadly did not win but we raised a very healthy £412.60.  Thank you both. 

 

We even had a lovely £500 donation from a Physic night held at Ryde Castle, thanks to an ex-member. 

 

Thank you to everyone who donates however big or small it is very much appreciated and vital to keep us operational and moving forward. 

 

This year Stag Lane Motors celebrates its 60th Anniversary of looking after IOW Vehicles.  We are indebted to them for keeping our search vehicles operational and are just one of the many charities and Emergency Services they support.

 

On the 30th June we are involved in supporting Isle of Wight Armed Forces Day, always very special for lots of reasons.  Many of our own volunteers are ex-service and they bring exceptional skills & experience to the team.

 

Next month we have the highlight of helping with the Main Arena at The Royal Isle of Wight County Show. Always a favourite with the team. 

 

Operation wise, we are in the middle of testing out a “new to us” full Incident Management system, which covers call out, incident control and mapping.  It is very exciting to test its potential.

 

We have also moved to a different Unit to store our search vehicles.  The new one gives us much easier access, straight out of the site with no manoeuvring. Thank you to Alan & Rose for thinking about us!

 

We continue to visit every Alzheimer’s Café across the Island with our Police colleagues to promote the Herbert Protocol – Safe & Found. This is a national scheme which encourages carers/ family & neighbours to compile useful information which can be used in the event of a vulnerable person going missing, providing the Police and search teams rapid information to inform immediate search planning. We are getting a lot of interest from the groups we visit. If you want us to come and talk to a community group please do e mail us at info@wightsar.org

 

Details and the Herbert form can be downloaded from the WightSAR website. https://www.wightsar.org/herbert-protocol

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March 2024 News …………

 

We have had a lot to celebrate since our last news update.

 

We were delighted when Dean Terrett, our Chair and Founder, received the British Empire Medal in the New Year’s Honours List. Dean received this for his outstanding services to Search & Rescue across the Isle of Wight. Humble as ever, Dean was keen to recognise the WightSAR team in his acknowledgment. Hopefully the sun will shine for the Garden Party in May and Dean will be presented with his award by the Lord Lieutenant later in the year.

 

We completed the commissioning of our new Incident Control Vehicle during November, and the vehicle had its first deployment in December. The Search Planning Team were very pleased with the onboard internal heating system during a cold, wet & windy deployment on Culver Downs at the end of December. Again, we are indebted to Northstar Conversions Ltd and Indigo Graphics for bringing this project to its conclusion.  

 

The Incident Control Vehicle was also front & foremost in December, proudly leading out the Newport Christmas Illuminated Carnival. 

 

There was no rest for the Fundraising Team with lots of store collections taking place.  We are always grateful to the staff & customers who make the team feel so welcome and generously donate. We visited Tesco (Extra) over 3 days in Dec as well as Asda (Newport) and raised vital operational funds as well as raising our profile.

 

M & S (Newport) announced that they had chosen WightSAR as their Charity of the Year, and we had a record breaking store collection during Dec which included a visit from WightSAR Ted!

 

Ryde Golf Club also kindly chose WightSAR as one of its charities of the year alongside Alzheimer’s IOW.

 

We also visited Tesco Extra (Ryde) to show them the finished Incident Control Vehicle that was partly funded by the Groundworks / Tesco Blue Token scheme which granted WightSAR £1 500 when we secured the most “votes”. 

 

We were also delighted when Shane & his Team at Bannock Rd Christmas Lights chose WightSAR as their Christmas Lights charity for 2023. The Team enjoyed a Christmas visit to see the lights and those visiting the amazing display. WightSAR Ted was particularly impressed and enjoyed greeting some of the younger visitors and the local pub!  Shane & his team have been building these amazing displays since 2013 and raising money for local charities since 2017. They have raised a grand total to date of £5 686.231. Their 2023 display raised a grand total of £1 250 towards a casualty evacuation stretcher. Thank you, Bannock Road Christmas Lights. We recently took delivery of the stretcher, a huge asset to the team. 

 

We had a further surprise donation of 1k from Northwood Garage Gulf Oomph Customer Loyalty Award, making a grand total of 3k.  Many thanks to the Northwood Garage team & customers. 

 

We would also like to thank some of our sponsors who provide ongoing support the team in so many different ways.  These include Stag Lane Motors for continuing to look after our search vehicles & Raven Print & Design for providing us with such professional promotional material. 

 

In the coming months we are visiting every Alzheimer’s Café across the Island with our Police colleagues to promote the Herbert Protocol – Safe & Found. This is a national scheme which encourages carers/ family & neighbours to compile useful information which can be used in the event of a vulnerable person going missing, providing the Police and search teams rapid information to inform immediate search planning. 

 

Details and the form can be downloaded from the WightSAR website. https://www.wightsar.org/herbert-protocol

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