The crew at Severn Area Rescue Association (SARA), Tewkesbury station were this week pleased to receive the extremely generous sum of £2000 from members of Tewkesbury Round Table. The Tablers raised in excess of £3500 during their annual Santa Sleigh event in the town, with the Boy’s Brigade also benefitting from a sizable donation. The amount raised reflects the generosity of local people, despite the cold conditions on the run up to Christmas. The money donated to Sara will go towards funding new rescue equipment to be used in and around the local area.

Station Treasurer Paul Fearnley is pictured receiving the cheque from Tablers Steve Fabian, Mark Gilchrist, Chairman Steve Ward, Will Parkinson and Gareth Bowen.

A group of 9 Round Table members visited SARA’s home at Gloucestershire Water Rescue Centre to present the funds, tour the facility and meet the crews. Paul Fearnley said ‘these funds are vital to us to enable us to continue to provide a comprehensive and well-equipped rescue service, on permanent stand-by to assist those most in need in our local communities. All SARA staff are unpaid volunteers which mean this money can be used to purchase tangible items, such as a boat engine, that provides immediate and long-lasting benefit.

Steve Ward, Chairman of Tewkesbury Round Table said ‘Once again the generosity of Tewkesbury residents has astounded everyone at Round Table, we do the Christmas collection because it’s such an amazing feeling seeing the children’s faces when Father Christmas meets them and being able to support our very own local charities is very close to our hearts.

Last year’s collection was even more special because we struggled to have enough volunteers to cover the evenings and got very close to cancelling, thankfully a desperate plea on our Facebook page ‘Tewkesbury Roundtable’ saw some very kind people brave the cold and save the day’

Steve continues, ‘thank you so much to everyone that helped us make a difference, more details about us please visit: roundtable.co.uk or email myself at tewkesburyroundtable@yahoo.com’

SARA and Tewkesbury Round Table are hoping to work closer together over the coming months by helping each other staff local event stalls and organise fundraising events. Both groups feel that local volunteers working together can bring greater benefits to all involved.

1900hrs on Wednesday 20th February sees the official handover of a new rescue boat, being donated to SARA Tewkesbury by GFRS, as part of their ongoing partnership sparked by a strategic alliance agreed in late 2011.

The boat – a 4.9m specialist rescue RIB – has been in service with GFRS for some years, and having been replaced has now been donated on to continue saving lives throughout Gloucestershire and beyond. The boat joins SARA Tewkesbury’s existing asset list as SARA RESCUE 16, and will be put to use immediately for training and operations. The craft has undergone an overhaul and refurbishment since passing to SARA and will enter operational service immediately.

Station Manager at SARA Tewkesbury, Tom Keeling, said:
“this boat increases our capabilities by adding a large, fast and dependable boat that has proven track record in rescue work – capable of dealing with large river work and widespread flooding incidents. Receiving this further strengthens our unique working relationship, and adds to the depth of resources at Gloucestershire Water Rescue Centre, which we are proud to be a part of”

The handover ceremony will take place Weds 20th February at 1900hrs at Gloucestershire Water Rescue Centre, Oldbury Rd, Tewkesbury, and will see Chief Fire Officer John Hall and County Councillor and Cabinet Member for Communities Will Windsor-Clive present the craft formally to SARA Tewkesbury.

In The News:

• Gloucestershire Fire & Rescue Service (GFRS) – County’s flood response boosted by boat donation
• Gloucestershire County Council – County’s flood response boosted by boat donation
• This is Gloucestershire – Fire service donates boat to water rescue charity
• Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard – SARA has been donated a boat by Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service

Crew from SARA’s Tewkesbury station have recently undergone professional vehicle winch training, provided free by Recovery Safe. The course saw five crew members undertake both theory and practical courses towards a ROSPA accredited qualification. SARA use vehicle winches to assist and recover boat launches as well as it being an essential skill within their rescue work. The crew from Tewkesbury were required to understand LOLER and PUWER regulations, be able to calculate safe winch loadings as well as demonstrating an ability to perform a safe vehicle recovery on varied ground types.

Mark Hartell, MD of Recovery Safe Training Services Ltd of Twyning, Tewkesbury, wanted to help the local team and has previously assisted by providing First Aid training to new crew members. Mark’s passion is best practice and he was keen to ensure the team at Tewkesbury have the best possible knowledge as well as up-to-date qualifications. Mark, who’s brother Mike is an operational crew member, has pledged to do ‘as much as possible to help SARA Tewkesbury’.

Tom Keeling, Station Manager at SARA Tewkesbury took part in the training.

“This training really opened my eyes to the dangers involved in winch operation. Thankfully, the course provided by Mark has enabled us to implement his best practice procedures – all the crew who attended thought it was great. I’m looking forward to working again with Recovery Safe in the future, and can’t thank Mark enough for his kind and continued support”.

Recovery Safe can be contacted through their website, www.recoverysafe.co.uk, and offer a range of courses covering vehicle recovery, first aid and 4×4 driving.

The volunteer crew of Severn Area Rescue Association, Tewkesbury Rescue Station returned to their day-jobs today (Thursday) after eight days of call-outs for flood rescue and response that saw the team attend in excess of 20 flood related incidents including the rescue or evacuation of some residents and their pets.

SARA Tewkesbury is based at Gloucestershire Water Rescue Centre alongside Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service. Together the team’s unique partnership has seen a fast, efficient and professional response to flooding across Gloucestershire, evidenced by the numerous incidents attended and the ability to provide continuous response for extended periods.

In August 2012, a joint team from the centre won a national water rescue challenge, being crowned UK No.1. Thanks to shared training standards, equipment and cohabitation, both teams based at Gloucestershire Water Rescue Centre have developed their core skills, and only 14 months on from starting this project have shown the benefits projects like this can bring to the local community and further afield.

Sustained operations of this nature come at a fair cost for SARA, with fuel and damaged kit to replace. SARA relies on public support and is funded entirely by voluntary donations, which can made by texting “SARA73 £5″ to 70070.

On Thursday, (18th October 2012) SARA Tewkesbury declared Barchester Health Care’s new residential home in Tewkesbury, Ashchurch View, officially open. Barchester and SARA have been working closely together over the last 6 months supporting each other with local community projects. SARA today received a generous donation of £2000 from Barchester to commemorate the opening of Ashchurch View.

The money has been allocated to the overhaul and refurbishment of MRU 3, one of SARA Tewkesbury’s specialist search and rescue land rovers.

SARA’s Tewkesbury Team would like to pass on their thanks to Barchester Health Care and everyone at Ashchurch View for their support.