Channel Islands Air Search

1980 - 2008 - 28 Years of Search & Rescue Service

Guernsey Friends of Air Search

Newsletter - Summer 1999

Events

The Friends attended the West Show with our caravan and despite nearly getting blown away on the first day of the show managed to raise £346 from visitors there. Guernsey Aero Club also supported us on their Open Day and raised just under £300.

We were also fortunate in being asked by Condor if we would like to have a presence at their Open Day on board the Commodore Clipper, their new Ro-Pax vessel, in St. Peter Port Harbour on 18 September. As many of you will know there was tremendous interest from the public and we again were fortunate to have the opportunity to meet with so many people who supported us generously, raising another £335 for funds.

In October we were able to sell tickets for our annual draw at Safeway over two days. These always prove popular and it gave us another chance to raise both funds and also the profile of Air Search. We have taken the opportunity to enclose 10 tickets with this newsletter which we hope you will be able to sell for us - further details appear in a dedicated section elsewhere in the newsletter.

During the course of this year we have also received donations emanating from two great supporters of Air Search who sadly have passed away. We are grateful to them and their families for remembering the organisation.

We have also been fortunate to receive a number of much-appreciated donations; £1500 from the Lions Club trolley-dash; £2000 from Rotary Guernesiaise from their dress-down day; £500 from the Marine Traders Association; £2500 from the Alderney Rotary Club's mufti-day and £250 from Sark Yacht Club. To these amounts was added £6000 from the Association of Guernsey Charities along with a number of other donations which space does not permit us to list. Our appreciation also goes to those who have sponsored searches. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone very much who has contributed.

During this year we have held open evenings at the hangar when arrangements were made to host local organisations, Bon Ami, the Camcorder Club etc. Members were given a talk on the work of Air Search and a conducted tour over the aircraft. These visits seem to have been well received by the members and great interest was shown in how Air Search operates. If your society or club is interested, please contact our secretary.

Our collecting-boxes throughout the Bailiwick have again brought in additional funds and in particular we have been well supported by people passing through the airport.

We can report that progress on the FLIR (Forward Looking Infra Red) equipment has been most positive and we have now managed, in conjunction with the Jersey Friends of Air Search, to reach the required £175,000 needed to install the equipment and undertake the modifications to the aircraft required to enable this to be done. This will result in a change of the seating arrangement in the aircraft. The Search Director's console is being moved forward two and a half feet whilst two rear observers' seats will be changed to face backwards instead of forwards. Rest assured the pilot's seat will remain facing forward! The work is being done in a number of stages to avoid the aircraft being off station for more than the minimum amount of time and the job should be completed early in the new year.

The Guernsey Friends have been able in addition to the FLIR Appeal to pay over to the Trustees of Air Search the sum of £20,000 so far this year which is a great credit to all the hard work done in fund-raising and also to the generosity of islanders. However, we cannot be complacent. As I am sure most of you appreciate, the costs of maintaining an aircraft in prime flying condition, crew training, operating services and above all providing the service to be in a state of instant readiness, does carry a heavy overhead in many areas, not least of which is financial. From time of callout of the service by the rescue services control to being airborne, is normally no more than 25 minutes - an achievement which reflects magnificently on the crew and must be a great comfort to those who have need of the service in time of peril.

We have produced again this year a Christmas card in aid of Channel Islands Air Search. It is a quality card featuring an original painting by Sheila Noble, kindly donated to Air Search. If you or your company are looking for cards, please consider this as an option. For further details and prices (discount on bulk orders), please contact Reg Noble. Cards are also on sale at The Lexicon in town who have very kindly agreed to sell these on our behalf.

There have been some changes in the officers of the Friends and we have detailed below the current committee members, their positions and contact numbers for your information.

If there are any other areas which you feel would be of interest to you, whether you are supporters living in the islands or the United Kingdom, then please do let us know. We believe it is important that you know what is happening in the organisation in addition to what you read of callouts in the local press.

We would like to thank you for your support in 1999 and hope that we can look forward to receiving it in the new millennium. If you, or anyone you know would like to help the Friends of Air Search then please do contact one of the committee. No matter how little it may be, the odd hour at an event or in some other way, is of great assistance when manpower is stretched. We do need extra volunteers and any offer is very welcome.

Annual General Meeting

At the 1999 Annual General Meeting in March, the Friends passed a change to the constitution at the request of the auditors. It was agreed that the Friends financial year should in future run from 1 July through to the following 30 June. This change to take place immediately which effectively extends the current year to run from 1 April 1999 to 30 June 2000. A by-product of this is that the Annual General Meeting in 2000 will now take place in the early autumn instead of the spring.

Draw Tickets

We have taken the liberty of enclosing 10 tickets for our annual Christmas Draw which we hope you may be able to sell for us. The draw makes a valuable contribution to our funds and any help you can give in this area is much appreciated. Should you require any more tickets, however few, then please contact Julyan Gardener-Wheeler.

Counterfoils and monies should be returned to arrive no later than 13 December to Mike Quarrington Hon. Treasurer)

The draw will take place at the Guernsey Yacht Club at 8.00pm on 15 December and we will be delighted to meet any Friends there who wish to attend.

CO-OP Number

Guernsey Friends of Air Search also have our own number at the Co-op, 83322, detailed on the handy sticker enclosed. We would be most grateful if when shopping there, you remember the organisation on at least some shops. You might wish to dedicate the points from all shops on a certain day of the week - a Sunday perhaps!

Volunteers

If you, or someone you know, would like to become a little more involved in helping us at the various functions or activities in which we participate during the course of the year then please do contact Reg Noble, our Events Co-ordinator or any other committee member. If you are not free then it is no problem but our success is often limited by the number of volunteers available. No matter how little it may be, the odd hour at an event or in some other way, is of great assistance when manpower is stretched. We try to avoid people being on duty for appreciable periods by ringing the changes and obviously the more helpers we can call upon, the easier this is. Please consider if you could spare the Friends an hour or two in the year.

Collecting Boxes

If you would like to have a collecting for Channel Islands Air Search in your shop, restaurant or other business then please contact Chris Torode.

Promotional Items for Sale or Christmas Present ideas

With Christmas approaching, we would like to take this opportunity to remind Friends of the items we have available for sale. The sale of these items makes a valuable contribution to our fund-raising and also increases public awareness of Channel Islands Air Search.

Committee Elected at AGM on 24 March 1999

Julyan Gardener-Wheeler (President)

Hugh Chivers (Vice President)

Nicky Le Page (Secretary)

Mike Quarrington (Treasurer)

Ian Larby

Alan Richards

Reg Noble (Events Co-ordinator)

Chris Torode (Collecting Boxes)

Roger Morgan

Ralph Burridge (Alderney Representative)

Tony Ventress (Sark Representative)

1999 Search Summary

It has been a very quiet year so far, with only 7 searches flown at the time of writing.

6 March

The aircraft was flying on a training mission when an emergency locator beacon was reported by Brest air traffic control. The estimated position given by satellite was some 12 miles west of Guernsey. A 2 hour search located several fishing vessels in the area but no further signal was received by any station.

25 March

A search of the cliffs and water around Jerbourg was carried out as a result of a police report of the finding of a back pack in the area, but no casualty was found.

23 April

A search was carried out at the request of the French rescue service CrossCo following reports of a sailing boat missing en route from Roscoff to Port Blanc. A 4 hour search revealed no casualty.

13 May

A yacht participating in a race from Morlaix to Guernsey reported a man overboard, but subsequently recovered him successfully. This search in darkness would have been greatly facilitated by the availability of FLIR on the aircraft.

25 July

A search, commenced at first light, for a man reported overboard from the ferry “Varangerfjord” was carried out for a total of 41/2 hours. The availability of FLIR on the aircraft would have enabled it to carry out an effective night time search which could have commenced some 8 hours earlier.

5 September

The aircraft spent 11/2 hours searching for a yacht reported missing from St Malo. Due to the poor visibility much of the search was carried out very effectively by radar. Once again FLIR would have permitted an even more effective search to be carried out.

27 October

Coastal search of the south-west coast of Guernsey following reported flare sighting - no casualty found.

29 October

Aircraft involved in successful rescue of two people from life-raft after their fishing-boat sank north of the Casquets.

Subscriptions

The annual subscription to the Guernsey Friends of Air Search is just £10.00; Life Membership is available for a single donation of £100. We are pleased to supply standing order forms to anyone who wishes to change their annual method of payment. Just advise the Treasurer and he will be pleased to send you the form. Please help us to help you should the need ever occur - it could be the best £10 you ever spent!

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