Thanks and goodbye to the Sealing search and rescue

Sorry  that  it's  taken me  so  long  to  pick  this  one  up,  Robsail !

Quite  agree  that  they  will  be  missed  clattering  about  the  skys,  whether  they  have  been  replaced  or  not  !!

I  always  thought  that  it  was  a  good  way  of  training  helio  crews  by  giving  them  a  "Life  Saving"  role  in  civvy  not  military    arena.

We saw a similar event when we were down in Cornwall at the end of last year. Search and rescue has been such a vital service over the years, we just have to hope and trust that the new private service is as dedicated and effective!

It's a big concern in Northumberland.

Our SAR has been based at RAF Boulmer.

With this change, our nearest SAR will be either Glasgow or Hull!! Not exactly on the doorstep if you're in the North Sea.

Bugs

Many years ago our club would take a team to play rugby against RAF Boulmer. Not the best rugby was witnessed on those visits but we always had a fabulous time and they always treated us very well. On occasions we would have to 'lend' them some of our players, such fun! Sad to see such essential services cut particularly for our maritime communities. I do recall them also involved in mountain rescues too along with other emergencies!

Having been in a mountain rescue team for 40 years I have  many happy memories of times spent in Sea Kings being winched out in pitch dark onto the side of a mountain in winter etc. The down draft and noise has to be believed. I have seen some impressive flying when the pilot has brought the craft close into the crags to lift a stretcher. On one occasion when the ground was too soft to land (it weighs 5 tons) the pilot put just on wheel onto a rock and hovered the other two wheels just clear of the ground so we could quickly load a stretched casualty without waiting for a winch to operate. I hope the new privatised service will continue to be as readily available as helicopters are extremely expensive to run.