MERVYN Fleming, who had led the Severn Area Rescue Association (SARA) Stations at Beachley and Newport for 10 years and was 70 last year, formally stood down on Thursday, 18th May.

He has supervised the deployments of all the Beachley and Newport callouts for the past 10 years, liaised with the relevant emergency service, and dispatched the appropriate SARA crew and equipment. As a volunteer himself, he nearly always travelled to Beachley Station to run the control room operation and remained on station until all of ‘his’ crew were safely back.

SARA Executive Chairman Chris Crowley said: “He has been tireless in developing the capability of search and rescue across the area, leading the progress of inter-agency cooperation and liaison arrangements.

“SARA is now frequently called to support the police and the fire and rescue services in water-focused operations away from the coast, as well as by the coastguard for incidents on our tidal rivers and out on the Bristol Channel. 

“People are rescued, boats are saved, occasionally animals are rescued too. Often his team IS stood by to assist the police, and then stood down once everyone Is secure safe and well, but even that involves long and unsocial hours of uncertainty.

“One of his greatest achievements has been the creation of the Newport Lifeboat and Rescue Station, and the recent launch of the new Gwent Lifeboat which is housed there. 

“The SARA Newport presence began in 2013 as an ‘equipment hub’, in reality a well-stocked shipping container which locally based crew could access. Through patient negotiation he secured agreement for the SARA station to be housed within the Malpas Fire Station. The team there is rapidly growing, and are frequently seen fundraising at Friars Walk and other locations in Newport.”

Mervyn is succeeded by Ian Roberts, who has been a SARA volunteer since 2015 and is an operational member of the lifeboat, cliff rescue, and land search teams. Ian added: “Mervyn has done a great job for a number of years and will continue to support SARA in the future. 

“It’s an honour to be elected as chairman and I know that we face several challenges, the most fundamental of which is funding our activities. 

“SARA is staffed entirely by volunteers and we receive no regular government money. We have to raise the money ourselves to fulfil our role, and that is a constant battle. In addition, we need more crew, especially for our lifeboats and especially from the Chepstow and local area, who can get to the station within about 15 minutes.”

SARA is entirely manned by volunteers. To donate £5 to SARA, text “SARA02 £5” to 70070.