THE first callout of the year for Chepstow’s lifeboat service saw the crew joined by an extra man on board.

SARA the Severn Area Rescue Association was hosting a visit from David Davies MP when, after a briefing and a tour of the lifeboat and rescue station a crew took him out on SARA Lifeboat 1 ’The Jim Hewitt’, and headed up the Wye.

At this point, a call was received from the police asking the crew to return urgently to Chepstow.

The crew was asked to investigate a report of a submerged vessel at the Chepstow Pontoon, which they did, and Mr Davies was able to assist.

No such vessel was found, and the crew returned to Beachley and the crew’s visitor was able to depart on schedule.

Last year in total, SARA responded to 130 separate callouts, these encompassed a whole range of incidents which included missing person searches, cliff rescues involving air ambulances, assisting broken down vessels and helping stuck Severn Bridge workers.

The MP for Monmouth, David Davies, said “It was very interesting to spend time with the SARA crew.

“We were called to an incident while I was out on the water with them, which fortunately proved not to be serious, but it did highlight the fact that the specialist emergency skills which they have are hugely useful in certain situations.

“I am sure we are all incredibly grateful to these volunteers for the work that they do”.

Richard Newhouse, a spokesman for SARA said: “These visits from key stakeholders are important to us, and we very much appreciate their support.”