Save lives & make new friends SELSAR

[SearchDog]

Hi Everyone,

I posted an event in the what's on section regarding recruitment of new people to South East London Search and Rescue (SELSAR) which will be held on the 21st September Joydens wood-transport available from Bexley station. Please email [email protected] for more details. I thought some forum-ites might want to hear a little bit more about what the organisation does.

South East London Search and Rescue (SELSAR) is a search and rescue organisation run by volunteers who search for missing vulnerable people. Vulnerable people go missing for all sorts of reasons. They can be confused elderly people suffering from dementia who wander out of their care home, people with mental health issues (particularly those at risk of suicide) or they can be young people who are distressed and at risk or lost young children. In such circumstances, the police will call upon our team to plan and operate a search to help locate them quickly before they come to harm. Our team consists of highly trained searchers and specialist dogs and resources are deployed depending on what is appropriate for the situation. The organisation covers the boroughs of Southwark, Greenwich, Bromley, Lewisham and Bexley but as we are the only search and rescue team in London we are also available to help in other London boroughs.

I live in Dulwich and joined the organisation about 10 months ago and can honestly say its one of the best things Ive ever done. In addition to the great personal reward of saving lives, Ive met a lots of new friends and feel a real connection to the community. You may see me walking my trainee search dog in the local parks- she's coming along nicely with her training, but we still have the odd moment of naughtiness....

Volunteers come from all walks of lives from retired police officers, shop keepers, school teachers etc. and anyone over the age of 17 can join. We are actively recruiting people at the moment so Im trying to get the word out to those who might be interested. If anyone out there has any questions please get in touch and Ill try to answer. If you are interested in joining you can email the address above or reply to this message and Ill get details to you.

Thanks

[SearchDog]

I am also looking for volunteers to help train my search dog. Training can be done locally and will involve my dog finding you as you hide from us. Please reply to this message if you are interested in training a valuable resource that might be used to find one of your loved ones !