Each missing person is someone’s husband, wife, son, daughter, father, mother or friendÂ
Dawn Collinson meets the men and women of Cheshire Search & Rescue – the volunteer team that never gives up hopeÂ
Torches, hi-vis jackets and an A-Z were all volunteers had to rely on when they turned out to help with the hunt for a missing Warrington teenager back in 2004.
Community-minded and keen to support police efforts, they mustered what limited kit they could in an emergency and set off to comb the neighbourhood.
That first search sadly ended with Shafilea Ahmed’s body found outside the area, five months after her disappearance.
It also became the starting point for what’s evolved into one of the best-trained and equipped volunteer teams in the country, covering not just Warrington but the whole of Cheshire.
Now, in place of very basic supplies, Cheshire Search & Rescue has a range of 4×4 vehicles at its disposal including one for control, where searches are co-ordinated using the latest mapping and logging computer software, and another which can be easily converted to carry a stretcher with a casualty.Â
Add to that dry suits and inflatable boats for water missions, and even two members’ dogs that are in training to become trailing dogs, assigned the task of pinpointing the route a missing person has taken.
Instead of pitching in ad-hoc, the team works side-by-side with police on between 30 and 40 searches each year. A CSAR search manager will sit alongside a police search advisor in the control vehicle before each hunt begins, analysing the information available and the terrain, and deciding what assets need to be used.
‘After that initial search, the volunteers started regular training and the police began using them,’ explains team leader Rick Lane. ‘After much training and several successful call-outs, the police said, “rather than just Warrington, would you be able to cover the whole of Cheshire?” That’s where this team started, in a really old caravan, which would go to the location of a last-known sighting. From there they would use coloured pencils on maps to work out where the team had been and which direction they still needed to go.’
Almost 20 years on, CSAR has 63 operational members ready to respond at any time of the day or night. ‘There’s no rota. If you’re free, you go, it’s as simple as that,’ says Rick.
Last June 28 of the team were presented with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal by the Chief Constable of Cheshire Mark Roberts, and CSAR patron, Brigadier John Thomson.
Completely self-funded, volunteers come from a wide range of backgrounds. Some have been or still are with emergency services, others have no previous experience of crisis situations. What they share is a willingness to give up their time to help the community.
‘In our current team we have all kinds of different skills – a paramedic, a doctor and a firefighter, people who work in IT and sales, a teacher and students, a solicitor, a gas engineer and aircraft engineer,’ says team secretary Rachel Smith, a former marketing manager who re-trained as a paramedic after joining CSAR.
‘It’s a real mixture, absolutely every age group and definitely not male-dominated. We do have a number who are in the emergency services, some have been members since the team started, but doing shift work means it can be particularly hard for them.Â
‘Most are professional people with lots of different experience and valuable skills, but the most valuable thing you can bring to the team is your time. If you have no usable qualifications that means nothing because we can teach everything.’
Rick, who runs a property management company, is a case in point. ‘I turned up with no specific skills and I’m now running the team with a long list of qualifications that the team has supported,’ he says.Â
‘Me and my brother Simon, who was the previous team leader, have both been members for 11 years and we juggle it between us. If a call-out comes and it’s busy at work, one of us has to stay so we do rock paper scissors in the office to see who goes out and who stays.’
Unlike mountain rescue operations, where there’s usually an injured person in a known location, CSAR’s call-outs will almost always be for vulnerable people – maybe a child, or someone with dementia, who doesn’t necessarily even know they’re lost. Increasingly they can involve someone who police suspect may intend to take their own life. In the worst circumstances, members can be called upon to recover a body.
‘We’ll get the call-out from the police and we’ll send a message out to the team who will respond with their availability, whether they can come straight away or if they’re only available for a few hours. With that information we can decide what we want to do next and how we want to run the search,’ explains Rick.
‘We have vehicles placed around the county where we have the most members who attend the most call-outs and we can run a search from all the vehicles because they all have Wi-Fi, computers and printers.Â
‘Whichever vehicle arrives, within a short amount of time we can have live mapping sent to each of the searchers’ phones.Â
‘We have a briefing from the police of who we’re looking for, what the circumstances are, we agree a rendezvous point for the team which is usually a pub car park somewhere near to an interesting point, often the last point where the person was seen.
‘The search managers who aren’t on the call-out will often start the mapping for us, which means when we arrive on the scene and the control vehicle arrives, we open laptops and the first few search areas or routes will already be plotted so we can get boots on the ground as soon as possible.
‘Then we’re looking for clues, any bits of evidence, bits of clothing – every pond we’re looking to see if there’s any access, has anyone walked in that way? We’re looking for drug packets on the floor; every property we walk past we’re looking to see if it’s got CCTV pointing at the path and then we’re feeding that back to police so they can investigate that footage. We are looking for a person but we’ve got to be clue aware as well.’
Most searches will centre on woodland or countryside, although there are exceptions.
‘If it’s someone with autism who’s gone missing we will immediately look at the area and go to ponds, a river or canals because people with autism are drawn to water. If we make that our priority there’s a possibility of us being able to save a life.’
When a search becomes wider, CSAR can draft in help from neighbouring teams and dog handlers who they regularly train and share best practice with.
Not all searches have a happy ending, but Rick says doesn’t make their job any less worthwhile.
‘There are certain call-outs where we can be fairly sure we’re going to do a body recovery, because of the length of time involved and the weather.Â
‘We often can’t change the outcome but it’s really important to get a person back home to their family, even if they are deceased. The one thing we stress when we go to these types of call-outs is that we are always respectful and dignified in how we do things, and we try our best to shield the public from what is going on.’
Systems are in place to support members after a traumatic find, with additional backup from police if it’s needed.
But, says Rachel, while the team is often faced with extraordinary challenges, there’s hope in every search.
‘We always hold out hope that someone will be found alive, that’s what we’re aiming to do, to reunite them with their families, and even when we might be suspecting the worst we’re constantly surprised. We don’t often get to see that moment when people go back to their loved ones, but just knowing that’s going to happen is a fantastic feeling.’
‘I think we experience every high and every low through what we do,’ reflects Rick. ‘A lot is trudging through fields, through forests at night, it’s very monotonous hard work for the teams on the ground and sometimes really long and tiring in the worst conditions.Â
‘Just because there’s a terrible storm or torrential rain doesn’t mean we won’t still be out searching. That’s what we do and it’s the best thing in the world as far as I’m concerned.’
THE VOLUNTEERS
Rick Lane, 45, WilmslowÂ
 I run a property management firm with my brother
I was volunteering for the Red Cross and found out about Cheshire Search & Rescue. My brother said he would check it out for a few months. A few months later I joined, and that was over 11 years ago. I took over as chair team leader in October 2021. As a family, we have always believed in volunteering and giving back so this just seemed like a natural fit to me personally.
All the training, admin, meetings and call-outs can take up a huge part of your life but it is so worth it. It’s a major part of my life, I can’t imagine doing anything else now. You do have to have a very understanding family as the call-outs are never convenient and they can last a couple of hours or many days. A few years back we were called out on Christmas Day two years on the trot!
Sarah Bazley, 44, Runcorn
I work for the Environment Agency
I joined CSAR in September 2021, so I’m relatively new to the team
I bumped into one of the team when I was out walking my dog, we got talking and he mentioned he was part of CSAR and started telling me about what they do.  A few days later there was an incident fairly local to where I live.  When I discovered my new dog-walking friend was involved in the search, I was really impressed and wanted to know more.
I’ve discovered that scrambling through brambles and sharp thorns isn’t very pleasant  – and climbing over barbed wire fences can be tricky when you’re relatively short compared to everyone else. I’ve really enjoyed learning the different skills required for search and rescue and being part of such a professionally-run team. Taking part in live searches is very rewarding as you know you’re helping to make a difference in what can be really challenging circumstances.
Alan Moser, 54, Â KnutsfordÂ
I am an outdoor instructor and project manager
I joined CSAR in January 2015  and recently had the honour of being awarded the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal along with other long-serving members.
I wanted to put my experience to use by serving the local community. I’m able to bring outdoor skills like navigation and ropework along with management skills.
It’s very difficult juggling time for the team with family and work. We train every Tuesday and as I’m a member of the training team each session also requires a lot of preparation. The pressure on time can quickly mount up, particularly if we’ve been out during the night and I’m a bit bleary-eyed the next day at work. The most rewarding thing is playing a part, however small, in helping police locate a missing vulnerable person. Each missing person is someone’s husband, wife, son, daughter, father, mother or friend and knowing that we help not only the missing person but also their loved ones is very humbling.
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