GAFIRS - visit and presentation

[Richard B]

Last Sunday Paul (timboli), Tim, Louise and I went to the Gosport and Fareham Inshore Rescue Service (GAFIRS) to hand over the cheque for £200 which was raised from last year's RIBnet Treasure Hunt.

GAFIRS was nominated by John Kennett as the beneficiary of the event and much thanks goes out to those who attended the event and gave donations.

We were also fortunate in having a couple of sponsors come forward with prizes, so thanks to Peter J and MeMe for their kind generosity.

[Richard B]

At GAFIRS we were received by their fundraising co-ordinator and the chairman, who gave us a tour of the facilities and equipment. The first thing that struck us was that from their position at Stokes Bay, their watchroom has a panorama of the Eastern Solent which gives them an outstanding view of activities on the water.

[Richard B]

Joyce and Steve were able to describe GAFIRS activities in detail. They respond to incidents both directly and through the coastguard, but not limited to the Eastern Solent. GAFIRS have a role to play in major incident plans for catatrosphes offshore and inland. They operate a dive rescue unit which is the only non-commercial rescue unit in Hampshire, often called upon by the Police and Fire Services for assistance. They are in the top ten rescue stations by frequency of callout, averaging 120 per year.

[Richard B]

Their current first-line rescue boat is an Avon 7.4m water-jet powered RIB which is about ten years old. This is launched bow first by trailer.

[Richard B]

They are in the process of fitting out a new Halmatic hull with twin engines which will become their first-line rescue RIB with the current RIB available as backup.

[Richard B]

GAFIRS receive a small contribution from local authorities which is shared with other independent rescue organisations such as the Cowes Inshore Lifeboat and Hamble Rescue. They receive no payment for their role in major disaster plans. The RIBnet donation represents approximately the same as a day's street collecting activity and they were extremely grateful to receive this. Thank you to all who contributed. You can find out more about GAFIRS on their web site: http://www.gafirs.org.uk

[Hightower]

Took my VHF there! Great people and very worthy of recieving some moneys.

Andy

[codprawn]

Great pics and a great looking boat - seems just because they aren't RNLI doesn't mean they aren't as professional in their approach but I bet they have a much harder time fundraising!!!

Don't know why but Avon seem to have lost their popularity somewhat despite making some great boats - they have been at it longer than most.

[Mike B]

Great pics and info !

Next to the new boat you can see their rescue kayaks. I had the sad pleasure of being beaten into the ground by a Gafirs team in a lifeguard comp some time ago. I have to say that they were by far the most professional team competing and were a great bunch of people.

Mike

[John Kennett]

I got a thank you letter from GAFIRS in the post today which was nice!

Thanks to everyone who contributed, and to the presenting committee!

John