Foyle Search and Rescue

Our volunteers patrol the river on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, identified peak times of need, from 9.30pm to 3.00am, engaging with people in distress, maintaining lifebelts and saving lives. We operate an emergency pager crew who are on call 24hrs per day, 365 days per year and also have a body recovery team who search for any person missing in the river and recover the body with the greatest dignity. During our missing person searches we liaise closely with the person’s family, providing vital support in their time of need. We also facilitate the North West Bereaved by Suicide Support Group for families & friends who have lost a loved one to suicide and are also involved in education on water safety and suicide awareness within our local community.

Our organisation was set up by local people in 1993, in response to the high number of deaths by suicide in the River Foyle (30 within 18 months). To date, we have stopped over 1800 potential suicides, rescued over 129 people from the water & recovered 75 bodies. This year alone we have recovered 7 bodies.

Foyle Search and Rescue Volunteers are an outstanding, dedicated and compassionate group of people who give up an estimated 15,000 hours of their time per year to help their local community. Our volunteers and management committee are completely unpaid for the challenging work they do, their only reward being the satisfaction of helping others and making our river a safer place. If you feel you could give up a few hours of your time each month to help others then why not join our friendly team of volunteers? Our volunteers are trained in First Aid, Health&Safety, Child Protection, ASIST, VHF Radio and Sea Survival so this is an ideal opportunity to learn new skills and make new friends while giving something back to your community. Volunteer application forms can be downloaded from our website www.foylesearchandrescue.org or, alternatively, email us or call in to our base in Prehen to find out more.

In the current economic climate Foyle Search and Rescue are finding it increasingly difficult to secure funding to keep our charity running. As we are a Search and Rescue charity we do not meet the criteria for many funding grants and it is becoming impossible for us to secure funding for capital or posts. This is putting an immense strain on the charity and subsequently we are turning our focus towards internal funding and the help of the public. We would appeal to the public that we serve to get behind Foyle Search and Rescue and provide us with the support that we desperately need to keep doing the fantastic job that our volunteers do.

Financially, to keep Foyle Search and Rescue afloat, it takes an average of 50,000 per year which only covers basic running costs. Our general running costs will continue to increase in 2010/11 as we have grown our operational platform to include 3 emergency response boats and a purpose built jetty. On average it takes 1,700 to train and equip one boat crew volunteer for our team. To train and equip one shore patrol volunteer costs approximately 700. Boat running costs each year alone amount to 13,000. The effectiveness of our service therefore comes at a steep price financially.

How Can You Help?

Foyle Search and Rescue have set up a group of fundraising volunteers known as our ‘Friends of Foyle Search’ and we currently require many more members. These volunteers do not participate in the physical lifesaving work of the charity, they instead help out with fundraising ideas and activities to bring in much needed funds for Foyle Search and Rescue.

• Could you give up a few hours of your time every month to help your local lifesaving charity? Please contact Amy on telephone number 02871313800 to join our lively team of fundraisers – we desperately need your help!

• Could your school or workplace hold a fundraising event to support Foyle Search and Rescue? Please give us a call and we will help you run it. No matter how small or large the idea is - every little bit helps!

• Would you like a Foyle Search and Rescue collection box for your business or home? Contact us and we can get one delivered to you straight away.

For more information contact us on 02871 313800.