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Volunteers of Waterford Marine Search and Rescue are proud recipients of Spar?s ?Helping Hand Community Award? and a prize of a whopping ?10,000

Waterford Marine Search & Rescue team are awarded for their ?helping hand? Volunteers of Waterford Marine Search and Rescue are proud recipients of Spar?s ?Helping Hand Community Award?. The competition winners saw 26 prizes of ?1,000, 5 prizes of ?2,800 and finally one prize of a whopping ?10,000 up for grabs. Olympic Gold medallist Katie Taylor, patron of the fund, had this to say ?The response to the competition was amazing and entries flooded in from every corner of the country, but the overall winner, Waterford Marine Search & rescue stood out from the start. Waterford Marine Search & Rescue were selected as Overall national Winners and were awarded a prize of ?10,000.? WMSAR Vice Chairman Declan Barry says the money will help go towards the purchase of a new Search & Rescue base in Waterford. ?It is hoped the new base will be fitted out with an operations room, conference room, training room, a canteen and shower and toilet facilities?. A ?Buy a Brick? campaign is currently underway by Waterford Marine Search & Rescue to help donations for the new building. Here is a link to the page: https://waterfordmarinesearchandrescue.ie/shop/buy-a-brick-fund/

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Suirway ? Proud to Sponsor Waterford Marina Search & Rescue

Suirway Farm Machinery have been involved with Declan & Daryl?Barry of?Waterford Marine Search & Rescue since they started up in 2010. We initially provide them with a transit?van for patrolling the quays and surrounding areas in Waterford ?& since then we have also provided them with?two Steady 400 boats which they use for patrolling and for Rescue. Declan & Daryl Barry have been involved with Marine Search & Rescue for seven years. In January 2010 they set up Waterford Marine Search and Rescue to provide Waterford city with a voluntary 24-hour, 365 days a year search and rescue service.Since then the organisation has grown to involve 40 volunteers and helped to save 69 lives.? The organisation operates a weekend suicide prevention patrol system which Daryl & Declan implemented. This patrol has started to spread nationwide. In December Declan & Daryl were?honoured?for their dedication & commitment as Volunteers of the Year 2013 at the Volunteer Ireland Awards in Dublin.

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New initiative by Waterford Marine Search & Rescue and The Samaritans (24 Sep 2010)

New initiative by Waterford Marine Search & Rescue (24 Sep 2010) New initiative by Waterford Marine Search & Rescue and The Samaritans Waterford Marine Search & Rescue has launched a new initiative to provide new life saving equipment along the banks of the River Suir in and around Waterford City. In a unique collaboration, they have teamed up with Waterford Samaritans in a joint campaign to reduce the incidence of drowning and the accidental loss of life on the river. In the course of this year, a minimum of 6 new ring-buoys will be erected in all-weather housing units along the Quays and Rice Bridge. The program will be extended into other areas of the city and county in the coming months. Regular foot patrols will ensure that vandalised or stolen ring-bouys are quickly replaced. “A stolen ring-buoy = A stolen life”, reminding members of the public that a life could be lost if the equipment is missing or damaged. In an effort to dissuade people from trying to take their own lives at the river, the life bouy housing units will carry the SAMARITANS logo and its 24 hour telephone number. Commenting on the initiative, David Ennis, Publicity Officer of Waterford Samaritans stated “The ring-bouys provide a literal lifeline for people who fall or jump into the river while our 24 hour crises line provides an emotional lifeline to people who might see no option other than suicide in a moment of acute distress or despair.” Darryl Barry of the Waterford Marine Search & Rescue added, “This is only one step in a long walk to try and prevent the loss of life on the waterways in Waterford city and county. Members and crews of the unit have put together some new projects that will be rolled out over the coming weeks. We are also looking forward to working with Samaritans on this project and many more to come. Working together with Samaritans and other rescue organisations in Waterford city and county we can make a difference.”one step at a time”. The Waterford Marine Search & Rescue service was set up in January 2010 to provide Waterford city and county with a 24 hour; 365 days-a-year search and rescue service. Since January, 25 volunteer crew members have been trained in VHF radio, Level 2 power boating, cardiac first responder and Navagation. Further training will follow in the coming weeks. For further information, please e-mail waterfordmarinesearchandrescueatyahoo.ie Callers can contact Samaritans 24:7 on 1850 60 90 90 or by e-mail to joatsamaritans.org

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TAXI DRIVERS in Limerick will be now taking their eyes off the meter to focus on saving someone?s life.

Staff with Treaty Cabs on Davis Street have undertaken throwbag training with Waterford Marine Search & Rescue, and are believed to be the first taxi drivers in the country to adopt this new skill. The drivers trained in the water to save someone?s life if they?re in difficulty, and learned how to talk to people in crisis situations. They hope now that other taxi drivers in Limerick will follow suit, and join them in preventing tragedies from occurring in the River Shannon. Jude Williams said that with over 800 taxi drivers working in Limerick their industry has a real chance to save lives and assist Limerick Marine Search & Rescue. Tara Williams, also a volunteer with Limerick Search & Rescue, said they plan to set up a Facebook page to encourage other drivers to avail of this training. ?The aim is to get this going all over the country. It was started in Waterford and we?re the first taxi company to do this, and hopefully it?ll take off from here.? Taxi driver Alfie Earls said it?s not merely a case of throwing the throwbag into the river; it?s also important to have the physical strength to be able to pull someone from the river. On Christmas Eve Aflie phoned the garda? after seeing a man on the bridge, who was later talked down. ?There?s nobody in Limerick that doesn?t know someone who has had somebody in the river. If we can help in any way it would be fantastic,? he said. Jimmy Connors, of Limerick Marine Search & Rescue, said ?the more people that are aware of the tragedies happening in the river the better. ?The taxi drivers are on the road 24/7 and they will come across things first that we mightn?t know anything about. We?re fully supportive of the taxi association, well done to them.? The training takes just two hours and those who complete it will receive a throwbag to carry in their car, a certificate and a sticker for the vehicle, for a fee of ?30.

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New Search and Rescue Base for Waterford City “Buy a Brick” campaign

  Waterford Marine Search and Rescue have started a fundraising campaign “Buy a Brick” to purchase a new search and rescue base in Waterford City. The base will be fitted out with a search and rescue operations room, conference room, training room, equipment storage area, canteen, showers and toilets. If someone goes missing there is nowhere safe for the family to go while the search continues. The new base will give people somewhere to rest, so they can be updated with events as they unfold, be it 2 O Clock in the day or 2 O Clock in the morning. Please show your support and donate what you can to this campaign. Thank you so much for your support from all the crews. You can donate €4.00 from your mobile phone by texting WMSAR to 50300.100% of your donation goes to WMSAR across most network operators. Some operators apply VAT which means a minimum of 3.25 will go to WMSAR. Service Provider: LIKECHARITY. Helpline:0766805278.Please note that you can only text the keyword to 50300 once every 24 hours. Any other attempts to donate within a 24 hour time period will not be recognised by our system.

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Search for a 36 year old Italian man, living in Kilkenny, Ireland

A Search operation was launched at 17:00 on the 08/01/2015 has now entered Day 67 WMSAR teams were tasked by Irish Coast Guard earlier this evening to a report of a person entering the water from Suir Bridge. Volunteers were on a training exercise at the time and responded immediately, despite worsening weather conditions.?A search of the area was conducted in coordination with Rescue 117, WCRR, and Waterford City Fire Service. All volunteers have now been stood down for the night and operations will continue in the morning. Garda? are appealing to anyone who was travelling on the bypass or bridge at around 5pm and who saw anything to contact them on 051 305300. This has been the longest search and recovery operation in recorded history on the River Suir. WMSAR crews have searched consecutively for 67 days since the 08/01/2015. The search was stood down without any results on Sunday the 15th of March 2015.