Cash boost for Flintshire based NEWSAR after winning Steve Morgan Foundation 20th Anniversary Award

Volunteers from the Flintshire based North East Wales Search and Rescue (NEWSAR) team are celebrating this week after winning a Steve Morgan Foundation 20^th Anniversary Award.

A record 337 entries were submitted from charities across Cheshire, Merseyside and North Wales all vying for a share of nearly £200,000 in prize money.

A public vote was followed by two rounds of judging by trustees from the Steve Morgan Foundation before the final shortlist were agreed.

Philanthropist Steve Morgan CBE – the founder of Deeside based Redrow Homes – announced on the day that all finalists would receive £1,000 as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations, swelling the total prize money to £198,000.

The winners and runners-up of 11 categories were revealed on Monday at the Foundation’s 20^th Anniversary Conference and Awards at Carden Park Hotel.

NEWSAR was announced as the winner of the Best Volunteer Team with a turnover below £250K category.

The team were awarded £12,000 which will go towards a replacement Incident Control Vehicle.

NEWSAR needs to raise £65,000 by June to replace their current ageing and unreliable vehicle.

The Incident Control Vehicle is integral to search and rescue operations the team are called to, without it, they would be unable to respond to many of the calls they are scrambled to in the region.

After receiving their award, a spokesperson for the team said: “A massive NEWSAR “thank you! to everyone who voted for us in the Steve Morgan 20th Anniversary Foundation Awards.”

“We’ve only gone and won our category and picked up a £12,000 prize which will go towards our new Incident Control vehicle fund!”

“We literally could not have achieved this without your votes.”

“If you asked family and friends to vote for us please pass on our thanks to them too!”

“Thank you to the Steve Morgan Foundation for the award and prize, it is fantastic for our group of volunteers to be recognised for what we do.”

24 hours a day 365 days a year.

NEWSAR team members are on call 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

The search and rescue team’s primary operating area is in North East Wales mainly covering the counties of Flintshire, Denbighshire, Wrexham and parts of Conwy and Powys.

The team also regularly assists Mountain Rescue teams elsewhere in North Wales as well as Lowland Search and Rescue teams in Cheshire and Shropshire.

NEWSAR volunteers also assist Police in searching for vulnerable people who are missing from home or those in need of rescue.

All team members are volunteers and we do not receive any payment for providing this service to the Police.

It costs approximately £25,000 a year to run the Team – this covers fuel and repairs for vehicles, protective equipment for team members, training courses and team equipment such as ropes, stretchers etc.

As NEWSAR is a Registered Charity the vast majority of this money is raised through grants, individual donations, legacies, street collections and collection tins.

To donate click here or contact [email protected] about potential larger donations including company or organisation sponsorship options.