The new members took part in a full weekend training course which included written and practical assessments of which everybody passed. Subjects included Search Techniques, Communications, Scenes of Crime and a number of others to enable all students to become well grounded in all the disciplines needed to be an effective searcher. The course (held at Easthampstead Park Conference Centre) ran from Saturday morning and included a full scale exercise on Saturday night, finishing after 10pm. This was followed by further classroom and practical work on the Sunday, and a written assessment paper.

 

Kris Manning (Instructor) said “These members are now qualified to a national standard in Search & Rescue as Lowland Search Technicians (LSART) and this increases our operational membership by over 30%.

 

They are all volunteers giving up their own free time to saves lives in Berkshire. It was a very long weekend and I was delighted with their commitment and enthusiasm throughout.”