Search and rescue charity receives £1,500 donation from homebuilder

Established in 2012, Northamptonshire Search and Rescue is comprised of a team of 42 volunteers who are on call at all times. There is both a water search team and a dog search team, as well as trained drone technicians to assist in searches.

The donation came as part of the Barratt Developments Plc Charitable Foundation, which is designed to support national and local charities, large and small, across the UK to leave a legacy in the communities in which the housebuilder operates.

John Brown, Search Technician at Northamptonshire Search and Rescue, said: “We were delighted to be recognised this way by David Wilson Homes. Our volunteers spend a lot of their time helping in their local community, so a donation like this one feels like recognition for all of the hard work we do.

“In the UK a person goes missing every 90 seconds, and in 2022 we attended 88 callouts, spending 2,731 hours searching, training and at events. The team give up their time, spending hours away from their families searching for people who may be in distress.

“The £1,500 we receive will be put towards a new project to support the formation of a kayak team for river and flood search. This will complement our current Swift Water rescue team. Water is becoming a very current threat with the changing weather patterns and there is certainly a lot of it in Northamptonshire.

“All our funding comes from grants, public donations, and our own fundraising events. Without this support we will not be able to continue the work that we do, which may mean those that are missing and may be wanting to harm themselves will not be found.

“At a time when all funds available are tight, it is great that David Wilson Homes can help in this way. Not only to assist us with funding, but helping all the other charities out there. Funding like this means the difference of helping someone who is in need, or not. We would like to offer David Wilson Homes our most sincere thank you.”

Ben Kalus, Managing Director at David Wilson Homes South Midlands, said: “As a leading housebuilder we strive to support the communities in and around the areas in which we build, and we are delighted to be able to offer Northamptonshire Search and Rescue a donation to support the fantastic and important work it does.”