Grants to fund lifeboats and kit for volunteer search teams
Fifty charities will receive funding for essential search and rescue equipment, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced today (20 February 2020).
From rescuing people stranded by raging floodwaters to helping locate high risk missing persons, search and rescue teams across the UK carry out life-saving work every day.
One of the charities to receive money is Berkshire Lowland Rescue, the oldest Lowland Search and Rescue team in the UK. The charity will receive over £38,000 for vital equipment including a thermal imaging camera – to aid their efforts in recovering missing persons.
Other volunteer teams around the UK including Freshwater Independent Lifeboat on the Isle of Wight, and Maryport Inshore Rescue in Cumbria, have been given funding for new lifeboats - ensuring rescue teams can respond to situations quicker and more safely.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:
Rob Jackson from Berkshire Lowland Rescue Team said:
Bolton Mountain Rescue is another team to benefit from funding this year. The volunteers have been given more than £29,500 to boost their ability to search for missing people in water and evacuate flooded properties.
Steve Fletcher from Bolton Mountain Rescue Team said:
Since launching in 2014, the Rescue Grant Boat Fund has provided £5.7 million to 104 charities around the UK.