Specialising in mountain, lowland, trailing, collapsed structure, urban and drowned victim recovery
ANNUAL REPORT
1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023
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Registered Charity: NIC 101234
The trustees of SARDA Ireland North are pleased to submit their Report for the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.
Reference and administration detail
| CharityName | Search and Rescue DogAssociation Ireland North |
|---|---|
| Other names Charity is known by |
SARDA Ireland North SARDA IN |
| Registered CharityNo | NIC 101234 |
| Charity’sprincipal address | 102 Tullybrannigan Road Newcastle BT33 0PW |
Name of the Charity trustees who manage the Charity
| Trustee name | Office(if any) | Date acted if not for whole year |
|---|---|---|
| Dr Neil Powell | Chairman/ First Callout Coordinator |
|
| Dugald McCullough | Treasurer | |
| Kate Powell | Secretary | |
| Trevor Hartley | Assistant Training Officer/ Third Call-out Co-ordinator |
|
| Raph O’Connor | Training Officer/Second Callout Coordinator |
|
| GerryBurns | Trustee | |
| David Fraser | Trustee/Equipment Officer |
Structure, governance and management Description of Charity’s trusts
| Structure, governance and management Description of Charity’s trusts |
|
|---|---|
| Type ofgoverningdocument | Constitution |
| How the Charityis constituted | Association consists of 20 members |
| Trustee selection methods | Trustees appointed/re-appointed at AGM |
SARDA Ireland North (SARDA IN) is partnered with the Statutory Agencies involved in the search for missing persons in Northern Ireland. These partnerships ensure that the Charity helps maximise the potential for missing persons to be found provided the dogs are called on time. We also work alongside all the voluntary groups involved with the Northern Ireland Search and Rescue (NISAR). The PSNI has responsibility for calling us out for all searches and they also provide insurance cover for our SAR vehicles for which we are most grateful. All of the above groups meet regularly to plan and prepare for the development of search and rescue services here in Northern Ireland.
All our trustees and members give up their time voluntarily and receive no remuneration or other benefits. Our qualified search dog handlers and dogs are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
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Objective and activities
| Objective and activities | |
|---|---|
| Summary of the objectives of the Charity set out in it’s governing document |
SARDA IN provides specialist teams of search dogs and handlers at the request of the PSNI and other Statutory Services, to assist in the location of missing people. This service includes searches for missing persons, alive or deceased, in the mountains, lowlands, collapsed structures and waterways of Northern Ireland and beyond. |
| Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects |
In planning our activities for each year, we keep in mind the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit at all our trustee meetings. We attend call-outs to search for missing persons of any age, gender, ethnicity or religion is the focus of our activities. We are a cross-community Association. SARDA IN is the only voluntary SAR dog team within the UK and Ireland to have trained the full range of search dogs for searches in mountains, lowland, trailing, collapsed structure, urban and drowned victim recovery. |
Additional details of objectives and activities
All members give a great deal of time and effort and additionally, some help the Association by ‘hiding’ for the dogs to find them in all weathers at all stages of training and qualification.
Achievement and performance
| Achievement andperformance | |
|---|---|
| Call outs | We have had 22 call-outs working in conjunction with ourpartners in NISAR. |
| Training | We have a vigorous training programme ensuring both dogs and handlers are trained to the highest standard ensuring the best possible assets are deployed. Our skills are updated on a regular basis. Three members and their dogs, are attached to the NI Fire and Rescue Service Urban Search and Rescue Team. Training continues per calendar month and individual handler training continues daily. We have a strong resilience (15 trained search dogs),in all our search dog |
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| disciplines – mountain, lowland, collapsed structure, lowland/urban, trailing, and drowned victim recovery. We also have three trailing dogs in training and one additional Urban Search Dog in training. We have attended several international training events with SARDA Scotland, SARAID and the UK International Fire and Rescue Service. |
|
|---|---|
| Equipment | We are extremely grateful to the Department of Justice for helping us financiallyevery year. |
Further financial review details
We continue to receive small donations from the public through the Charities Aid Foundation, Facebook and from a few collection boxes.
We are also very grateful that we now have been sponsored by Naturo Dog Food who continue to provide us with a regular supply of dog food for our qualified search dogs. This year we have been able to hold a few collection days and we are extremely grateful for all the public donations – especially in our Belfast street collection before Christmas.
Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ Report above. Signed on behalf of the Charity’s trustees:-
| Signature: | Kate Powell |
|---|---|
| Full name: | Kate Powell |
| Position: | Secretary |
| Date: | 10 April 2023 |
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