Thousands flocked to 7 Lakes Country Park in Crowle, near Scunthorpe last Saturday (7 July) for Rescue Day 2018. The hot weather continued and crowds were basked in sunshine as they watched emergency and rescue services in action at the annual event.
Visitors were treated to a range of 999 displays including an aircraft crash incident, house fire, train crash, water rescues, a Police robbery chase, marine life rescues, heavy goods vehicle rollovers and much more.
Highlights of the day included a performance by Britain’s Got Talent 2018 winner Lee Ridley, aka Lost Voice Guy, who had the crowd laughing with a set of his uniquely funny comedy. Lee was kindly supporting the efforts of HFR Solutions, Humberside Fire & Rescue and Rescue Day, in their bid to raise money for three year old Emma Symthe and the charity Emma’s Wish. Emma suffers from cerebral palsy and the charity has been set up by her parents and they, along with lots more supporters, are working hard to raise £40,000 to fund surgery to allow Emma to walk. Fire fighters carried out a ladder climb challenge at Rescue Day on a purpose built tower to raise awareness and funds for Emma’s Wish.
John Armson, joint chair of Rescue Day said: “We’d like to say a huge thanks to Lee for supporting us and our efforts for Emma’s Wish at Rescue Day. The teams from HFR Solutions and Humberside Fire & Rescue Service did a fantastic job on the day and we’d like to thank the generosity and support received from the public.”
The Red Devils Parachute Display Team paid their annual visit to Rescue Day at 1pm and made a spectacular landing into the main lake, before being collected by a flotilla of rescue team boats and then meeting with crowds at the waters edge for photos and autographs.
Hugely popular were the Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance and National Police Air Service (NPAS) which both landed at 7 Lakes during the morning with visitors able to meet the air crews and take the opportunity to look inside both of the helicopters.
Lincs FM’s John Marshall was also at Rescue Day. John took part in some of the live demonstrations, including being rescued from the window of a house fire, before taking to the water with the York Rescue boat team to collect the Red Devils after they landed into the lake as part of their display.
This year the event also had the addition of large screens in operation for an even closer view of some of the live demonstrations. Plus it allowed the crowds to enjoy supporting England as they progressed through the quarter finals and beat Sweden.
All the emergency, rescue and volunteer teams were present in force, meeting members of the public, showing their vehicles past and present, demonstrating equipment and giving safety messages about fire, road, rail, water, health and community safety.
Chris Long, joint chair of Rescue Day said: “The aim of Rescue Day is a fun family day to show the public what our 999 and voluntary services do, to give our visitors a chance to talk to the teams, ask questions, receive safety advice and to enjoy themselves. It’s always fantastic to see so many families and children interacting with the emergency service personnel, sitting in the vehicles, trying on helmets and looking at the different types of equipment that the range of services use. The working dogs who are part of the water rescue, fire and police teams, also always prove to be a very big attraction.”
The event is organised by a small team including serving emergency services personnel from Humberside Fire & Rescue Service, East Midlands Ambulance Service, Humberside Police, plus the hosts 7 Lakes and others, and is sponsored and supported by several businesses and organisations that make the day possible. Rescue Day raises money for life saving equipment such as public defibrillators which are placed into the community.
The organisers wish to say a very big thank you to all of the sponsors and supporters of the event, 7 Lakes Country Park, all of the stall holders, exhibitors and 999 and voluntary services that take part and make the event such a success, and to all the many visitors that came to Rescue Day 2018.
There are photos from the day at www.rescueday999.com/photos-2018 and on the Rescue Day social media including facebook.com/rescuedayuk and on Twitter @Rescue_Day. Details of Rescue Day 2019 will be released soon.
Donations can be made on the day to Emma’s Wish charity online at https://www.treeofhope.org.uk/emma-smyth2015/ or https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/emmaswishmontblancironman