PCC cash boost for community groups

SEARCH and rescue volunteers will have a brand new van to help them in their work after being supported by the High Sheriff of Wiltshire's endowment fund.

Wiltshire Search and Rescue trustee Sarah Wolf said: "This van will transform our search capability and allow us to work smarter and be more efficient. At the moment we have one van that we keep all our equipment so there is hardly room to turn round in it. Recently we were out on a search for three days and three nights so the van is really a home from home.

WILSAR had applied for £3,000 from the fund to replace its ageing van, which it said is no longer fit for purpose. The fund granted it £500 but the remainder of the £3,000 it needed was made up from money left in the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner Grant Fund.

WILSAR has more than 50 trained volunteers who are called in to help police and fire rescue service staff in the search for missing people.

The cash given to WILSAR was just part of £6,000 which has been donated to community groups around Wiltshire from the fund, which is administered by the Wiltshire Community Foundation.