Fort Widley

On Saturday 24th October, Maggie Hill and Celia Hawson from the Communications Branch joined Coastguard Rescue Teams from the Southampton, South Downs, Portsmouth and Wight Sectors. They were also joined by a local police unit, for a days training at Fort Widley, a Napoleonic Fort located near Portsmouth. Celia's first project in her new role is to find out what motivates Coastguard Rescue Officers to volunteer (to inform a new recruitment campaign) and the opportunity to meet Coastguard Rescue Officers from four teams was just too good to resist.

The aim of the day for the teams was to exercise casualty evacuation from restricted spaces, using search, sloping ground and cliff rescue techniques. Celia said "The teams were set the challenge of finding 20 hidden objects and rescuing a casualty from deep within the tunnels. The dummy weighed only 6 stone but it took a lot of expertise to get them to safety.

"In the afternoon the search, sloping ground and cliff rescue teams all came together to move a casualty from the dry moat to safety. It was a great to see the teams in action and being challenged by the unusual inland location."

It was a successful day for all, not least for Maggie and Celia, who gained real insight into the work of our Coastguard Rescue Teams.