Nith Inshore Rescue is delighted to receive confirmation of the Dumfries and Galloway Coastal Communities Fund award of £76,555 confirmed today by Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Communities Committee and announce a further grant of £20,000 secured from St John Scotland. Together the funds of £96,555 enables Nith Inshore Rescue to move ahead with replacing its now 20 year ageing Land Rover Ambulance which was kindly donated by St John Scotland with a new specially fit-out INEOS Grenadier and undertake a now urgently required significant refit of its much-loved St John Lifeboat.
Although the funds will enable the move ahead with the vehicle replacement Nith Inshore Rescue is still seeking to secure a further £40,000 from donations, grants and the sale of its Land Rover to complete the full overdue 10-year lifeboat refit. The work will complete a refit started in 2021 which saw the replacement of her engines at a cost of £50,000 and it is hoped will ensure the St John Lifeboat is fit for purpose for another 10 years of service.
Gwilym Gibbons, Treasurer and Crew Member of Nith Inshore Rescue, said: “The combination of both the Coastal Communities Fund and St John Scotland grants which total almost £100,000 enables Nith Inshore Rescue to update, enhance and secure our ability to respond to callouts without ageing equipment issues impacting our response. Most significantly, the funding will enable us to improve the safety of our volunteer crew when responding both by road with our small lifeboat in tow and by sea when launching our St John Lifeboat”.
Nith Inshore Rescue is not part of the RNLI but is a National Independent Lifeboat Association member. We provide a coastal and inland water search and rescue service serving the Upper Solway and the surrounding area; raising funds to cover our annual operating costs for training, insurance, crew welfare, and maintenance of vital equipment is a constant challenge. Capital grants of this nature are critical for enabling Nith Inshore Rescue to replace, update and refit significant items on a rolling ten to fifteen-year period; this reduces maintenance costs and gives crew access to new technologies that support safety and enhance our search and rescue capabilities. However, the small regular donations by the many hundreds of individual community donors enable us to fulfil our mission to protect and save lives, and when life is lost, do everything we can to recover loved ones for those experiencing loss.
Gwilym Gibbons added: “The past 12 months have been tough for all charities which rely on ongoing giving to support their work. The ability to fundraise for the ongoing costs has been and continues to be challenging with reduced regular donations and rising costs. Following our recent appeal for regular small donations, we have been overwhelmed by the swift and generous response from all those who have signed up to donate sums between £2 and £10 per month via our JustGiving page. We have received nearly £1,000 worth of monthly sign-ups, which is nearly 25% of the target in just a few weeks; we have also received several one-off donations, which are all greatly appreciated. There has never been a more important time to support if you can your local charities”.
Laurie Irving, Chairman Nith Inshore Rescue, said: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dumfries and Galloway Council for their support through this significant Coastal Communities Fund grant and the repeated and much-appreciated help from St John Scotland, who we have enjoyed a long and supportive relationship with. Thank you also to all those individual donors who continue to support us and have recently signed up to help cover our annual running costs. If you can help, please sign up, we still need your support”.
