Circuit Project June 2016 – December 2017

Cheshire Search And Rescue (CSAR) is a team of unpaid volunteers who are on call 24 hours per day, 365 days per year and are ready to deploy in any weather. They receive no government funding whatsoever, but need to be well trained and equipped to operate effectively and safely. Last year they were called out 39 times to assist Cheshire and North Wales police and other statutory emergency services. They are proud members of the Association of Lowland Search and Rescue and also train and work with local Mountain Rescue teams.

Cheshire Search and Rescue Team was formed following the disappearance of a teenage girl in 2004 and started as a group of community spirited individuals with little more than high visibility jackets and torches. Their work has expanded with the recognition of the value of such help for finding more quickly vulnerable people who could injure themselves, need medication or be exploited. A search can end with a need to rescue, and response time can be critical.

The team is mainly called out to assist in the search for missing or vulnerable people across Cheshire and North Wales, and so it needs equipment and training to professional standards to deal with situations in towns and cities, forest and mountainside, flat plains and waterways.

Recently the team has searched for a missing 3 year old child at 6.30 in the morning, a man missing in Delamere Forest in the middle of the night and a vulnerable adult who was found 3 hours later.

The Circuit chose CSAR as its project for 2016-7 as CSAR's work reflects our Christian commitment to care for the vulnerable, and the dedication of the unpaid volunteers and what they manage to achieve with second-hand vehicles and limited equipment is impressive. CSAR is dependent on donations to maintain and replace vehicles and worn or damaged equipment, and these are key to the ability to respond and the time it takes to effect a search. It may be that it's someone we know that goes missing and the CSAR team turns out to locate and rescue.

Each church is being asked to help raise as much money as possible to support this very worthwhile work.

Total raised so far (November 2017) is about £9,500. We're nearly there! Well done to Hoole for their fantastic efforts with their Auction of Promises.