Stephen Morgan MP has joined Hampshire Search and Rescue ‘heroes’ for a training demonstration to see how the service has been keeping the area’s people safe.
Over the past year, the Hampshire Search and Rescue team have continued with their primary role of assisting police with missing person searches, as well as taking on a number of other tasks to help tackle the pandemic.
This includes delivering essential PPE to the front line and assisting Portsmouth International Port with the COVID swab testing of freight drivers. They have also been volunteering with Solent NHS Trust since January to deliver the Coronavirus vaccine.
The team has given 16,600 hours to the service so far in 2021, including 7,000 hours to support frontline work to tackle the pandemic.
The service was called out 96 times in 2020, their busiest ever year and 16 more than the 2019 total.
During his visit, the Portsmouth MP took part in a live training exercise and met service managers to learn about their operations.
Trevor Vidler, Vice Chair, said:
“It was a pleasure to host Stephen on the search exercise and we were pleased to be able to demonstrate our operational role.”
“Our all-volunteer charity currently has 122 members and we are on-call to the police 24 hours a day, every day of the year, whatever the weather.”
The Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South, Stephen Morgan, said:
“Hampshire Search and Rescue Service have done a phenomenal job in keeping people safe during one of the most difficult periods our country has faced.
“It was inspirational to see the volunteers in action and learn more about how they help protect us day in, day out.
“I was delighted to thank them personally on behalf of all us for their truly heroic efforts over the last year.”
Visit: https://hantsar.org/ to donate or volunteer.
