Severn Area Rescue Association

The Severn Area Rescue Association (SARA) is a large independent volunteer search and rescue organisation, which delivers a range of such services on water and on land in Gloucestershire and the surrounding areas. SARA provides a major rescue boat service with 14 operational boats, of which 5 are Inshore Lifeboats ‘declared’ to the Coastguard. These mainly operate on the Severn Estuary, which has the highest tidal range in Europe - where a vessel suffering breakdown or damage by grounding is in a particularly dangerous situation. We also provide several Police Forces with support for ‘Missing Person’ searches in rugged countryside areas and in waterways - such searches can span several days and sadly may become ‘recovery’ rather than rescue operations. We rescue people from cliffs & steep ground in the Lower Wye Valley, where the cliffs have seen many accidents over the years, and we have 6 Flood Rescue Teams (the largest number of any UK organisation) ready for deployment anywhere in the country. SARA has deployed to a number of major national flood incidents, and we rescued several people from their cars in the significant local flooding during this past winter. We have 180 operational volunteers, on-call 24 hours a day. We are one of the busiest volunteer rescue teams in the country - on average we are called out 2-3 times per week. As a matter of principle, we do not count ‘lives saved’ or suchlike, but each year we do save several lives. We also educate in Water Safety, providing training for schools and other interested groups to increase ‘water awareness’. During lockdown we continued to provide appropriate messages though our social media platforms, notably during ‘Drowning Prevention Week’.The organisation is made up entirely of volunteers, with no paid staff. As a registered charity, all funding is raised by way of grants, donations and our own fundraising. Our major annual fundraising event is the Wild Wye Swim, held in Sept.