A day in the life of a water rescue volunteer

He is married to Colleen and they have two daughters, Ava, 2, and Isla, six months. As well as being a full-time father to his daughters, Phillip is a qualified counsellor, trained in cognitive behaviour therapy. He recently set up his own business called Valley Counselling offering counselling services in Lisburn.

Before setting up this counselling service, Phillip worked as a practitioner assistant in the Royal Victoria Hospital. Wanting to use these skills for the benefit of the public, he jumped at the opportunity to volunteer for LSAR’s Emergency Medical Response Team.

Lagan Search & Rescue was established by volunteers to provide a dedicated Acute Water Rescue and independent lifeboat service for the River Lagan and its immediate area. Following nearly three years of development and engagement with the statutory emergency services, the charity is about to launch an operational response to emergency incidents on the seaward side of the River Lagan.

The charity has been actively engaged in the reviews that will make the River Lagan a safer place for all. Once operational, us volunteers will be paged by the emergency services and tasked to the scene of any incident. With this commitment, we must meet the National Team Typing standards, which means constant training and assessment in these vital lifesaving skills. This week, for example, volunteers attended weekly training from their base in Belfast and this will be supplemented at the weekend by water rescue training at Shaw’s Bridge.

Weare actively promoting this new service and recruiting volunteers who will serve their communities. A satellite Team is planned for the City of Lisburn. As a charity, fund-raising is a major part of volunteer’s a commitment. All running costs, all equipment – including the service’s ex-RNLI Inshore Lifeboat – are funded by public donation and through sponsorship. The charity acknowledges that nothing could be achieved without the generous support of the public.

On Sunday August 24, myself and other volunteers will be present in Bow Street fundraising to sustain and further develop our service. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage as many people as possible to come along to this to see what Lagan Search and Rescue is all about, to meet our volunteers and see some of the equipment that public donation provides.