WILSAR  - or the Wiltshire Lowland Search and Rescue organisation - have been presented with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service  by the Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire, John Bush.   Steve Upton (on left of picture), the group’s chairman, received the crystal award from Mr Bush.

The Lord Lieutenant was visiting the team’s monthly training exercise in Westbury.  He saw how they plan a search, inspected their control van and then joined them on a practise search operation.

WILSAR is a charity whose volunteers are trained and available to search for missing people in any part of the county.  Based in Devizes, they are also called on to help similar teams in neighbouring counties.  Often they are asked to help search for people with dementia who have wandered away from home.

Working closely with the police, they can also be asked to search for evidence in criminal cases.  Their latest call out was to Savernake Forest a fortnight ago to look for a middle aged woman described as being in a ‘despondent’ frame of mind.

After the presentation, Steve Upton said: “WILSAR is absolutely delighted to receive the Queen’s Award which recognises the hard work undertaken by the team.  Our volunteers are always ready to respond at short notice, giving their time freely, to undertake rescues throughout Wiltshire and surrounding counties.”

For more information about the organisation go to www.wilsar.org.uk