Tewkesbury Round Table Invest in SARA
Posted in Donation, Fundraising, News, Tewkesbury on April 1st, 2013 by Tom Keeling – Be the first to commentThe 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.

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’. 






