Our Values

Commitment

We give 100% effort to the task at hand and complete it to the best of our ability.

Initiative

We do not wait to be asked and in our decisions and actions we are accountable.

Comradeship

The member is the group and the group is the member.

Humour

We see the humour in all adversity that we may face.

Humility

None of us shall see him or herself above the needs of the group.

Mission Statement

Hamilton SAR Group provides highly competent and operationally focused teams
that are well led, trained and equipped.

Committee Updated

Michael Bland

Chariman

Matt Hassard

Operations Coordinator

E snapperassasin@xtra.co.nz

Gin Peck

New Member Coordinator

E ninandnim@xtra.co.nz

Dave Pitchford

Police Rep

Barry Were

YSAR Liaison

Russell Lamb

Administrator

Gilbert Southworth

Treasurer

Jake Crosby

Comms & Media

Last Months Meeting

• Was at Extreme Edge
• The AGM was held

This Months Meeting

• Will be at Extreme Edge again
• Navigation exercise - bring your compass.
• Amy will have Banff mountain film festival tickets ($15 cash).
• New Petzl Nao headlight demo.

Monthly Training

This months training will be on the last Thursday of June, the 28th. It will be on the south or east side of Hamilton. More details once they are finalised.

Reminders

Availability

• If you are going away: Contact Gin with the dates you are unavailable.
• If you are unable to attend a training: Contact Matt Hassard.
• If you are unable to attend a meeting: Contact Gin or a committee member.

Pager Test Message

Reminder for all those members with pagers. The first of every month a test message is sent out to ensure your pager is operational, if you do not receive this message you should contact Matt.

Personal Details

Contact Russell if there are any changes to your contact details so the callout list is updated. Change of email address also needs to be passed on to Jake for the newsletter.

From the Chair new

We will be beginning a new feature in the newsletter "From the Chair", a message from our new Chairman, Michael Bland. The purpose of this section is to update members on the work the committee is doing. I'll email this months message when it's ready, in a few days.

Raglan Combined Exercise New

The Combined Exercise with Raglan Coastguard is on the 18th and 19th of August. This will be an overnight exercise practicing our core SAR skills with lost parties.

Going away? Reminder

Remember to let Gin know if you will be away for a few days or more and unable to to respond to callouts.

Media and speaking engagments Reminder

Please remember that if you are asked to speek to a group or the media about SAR you should speak to the committee first. We need to be aware of publicity the group is getting and manage the public image of the Hamilton SAR group.

For Sale

• Backcountry ration packs – with breakfast, lunch, dinner and extras pack (tea, coffee, chocolate etc.). They are a bargain at $20. Remember – these are sold to our group at this special rate on the understanding that they will only be used during SAREXs or SAR Operations.
• Hamilton SAR cloth badge, $6.00 contact Russell
• Whistles – Bright and Loud, $12 contact Barry

Discounts for Members

• R&R Sport – 25% Ask for Wayne Addison.
• Trek 'n' Travel – 20%
• Bivouac Outdoor – 20%
• Macpac Hamilton – up to 30%
• Torpedo 7 – 10% Email Barry for discount code.
• Kathmandu – Free summit club membership
• Mountain Designs – 25% off Mountain Designs Products, 20% off others

Online Calendar New

For all those who use an computer or smartphone based calendar the HSAR calendar is now available in iCal and XML format.

It is also on the website at hsar.org.nz/calendar/

Tracking Course Canceled New

The Tracking course at Te Kauri on July 21 and 22 has had to be canceled. Unfortunately we were did not get a grant to fund SARINZ to run it and TPP don't have enough tutors.

The TCA course will still go ahead through TPP as will The First Aid and Search Methods courses in August.

Suburban search has been postponed until June next year.

Banff Film Festival

Once again the Alpine Club is running the Banff Film Festival on July 21. I've seen a couple of the films and really recommend you check it out.

Tickets are on sale from Trek N Travel and R&R Sport in Hamilton now. They are normally $20, however we have been told we can get them for $15 (SAR discount). It's best to take cash as it goes direct to NZAC.

Amy will be bringing a number of tickets and a list of films to the meeting on Monday night so if you would like to purchase them at the meeting bring $15 cash.

See bit.ly/Lfhfs8 for more info.

Note: this is the Saturday night of the TCA course at Te Kauri Lodge.

Callouts

Ronnie Fong - Hunua Ranges. Assisting Auckland SAR to search for a tramper who was lost for three nights before walking out to a road on his own. Article

A 41 year old hunter who left from the Waipapa dam on Monday the 2nd of July. The dam manager noticed the card had been at the dam overnight and one dog had returned to it. Taupo SAR searched Tuesday and called Hamilton and other groups in to help on Wednesday. His pack, gun and were found 2km upstream from the dam and police divers found his body submerged nearby. Article

Young family (two kids, 3 and 9) at Waiorongomai on Saturday July 14th. Lost the track and tried to follow the river downstream but found it impassable. Called 111 and 8 HSAR members responded. Gavin, Graeme and Gemma located the lost party just after 10pm, in the river down from the top of the New Era Branch. Lost party were warmed up while other members joined to assist with evacuation. After a very steep climb out of the river they followed the track back to the carpark, ariving about 2:30am.

Graeme & Gemma in the community New

Graeme Hill has been invited to speak to several organisations recently.

• St Peter church social club.
• Waikato Junats club.
• Waikato district council.
• Rotary breakfast meeting.

Graeme gives an overview of SAR nationally, Hamilton SAR and the search dogs group. He also talks about and introduces Gemma.

LandSAR Conference 2012

Friday 16 – Sunday 18 November at Bayview Wairakei Resort, Taupo

We are pleased to announce the confirmation of two key speakers at this year’s LandSAR conference:

• Allison Mooney – People Interpreter
• Dr Dave Baldwin – NZ’s very own Flying Doctor

These speakers are Kiwis, who have been chosen to cover topics and general interest areas which we think will be enjoyed by everyone attending the conference.

We are currently researching searches/and or rescues which have occurred in the last 2-3 years which we can use as case studies for discussion. We are hoping that in some cases the lost party will also be able to attend, which will enable us all to gain some insight into their perspective of the search experience.

If you have any great ideas for case studies, which you think would appeal to a wide range of SAR practitioners, please e-mail Karen Forsyth, Conference Manager at taupo@landsar.org.nz.

We are also well underway with planning for pre-conference events, which will be held from the Monday to the Thursday before the conference, and will be based in the National Park area, with accommodation available there.

From the Chair

Greetings all from your new Chairman, Michael Bland. I was installed into the position last month and feel very privileged to represent Hamilton Search and Rescue. Some of you will have met me at the recent AGM, but for those of you who were not there permit me to give you a brief potted history. I was born in North West England and moved to the Waikato in 2005, where I have been in various senior education and nursing positions since. In terms of the ‘outdoors’ I am a keen tramper and cyclist. I spent most of my youth climbing in the English Lake District and since moving to NZ have enjoyed many moments in the best the north island has to offer.

I came into the role of Chairman to provide strategic leadership to the group building on the work that the committee has been doing over the past couple of years. I am grateful to Elton for his leadership and direction steering the group and more recently Gin holding the reigns before my appointment.

So having attended the recent AGM and a formal committee meeting I am getting a sense of some of the challenges that face us all in the future. I am certainly confident that the committee is committed to providing the necessary leadership to sustain Hamilton SAR with the reputation it has built up over the past decade or so believing that the necessary skills within the committee exist and will enable us to continue to grow and develop.

In providing this brief report, I intend to do this each month, to give members open transparent feedback to the activity of the committee and the direction we are taking in supporting you the member to better achieve our purpose; competent, skilled members to provide public safety to those people requiring our assistance and care.

Straight from the AGM and the last committee meeting it was great to bring Jake into an executive position and the committee is working with Jake to exploit his talents in providing a strategic portfolio around media and communications. I know you will support me in welcoming Jake to this position and also the other strengths that I know he will bring to the committee.

Many of you will be aware of the valuable work that commenced over the past year through Elton’s work in providing a strategic plan. I congratulate Elton and the committee on this work and I have charged the whole committee that this piece of work needs to be our central piece of work over the coming year (including the new portfolio held by Jake). I intend to report back as we progress this work.

This weekend I joined a number of members: Matt, Elton, Bruce, Tim, Jake ( and JT who joined us for Jake's mulled wine on the Saturday night) on our first SAREX 1 this year. It was a great weekend, not dampened by the rain that started on Sunday morning and never relented. I had put my boots on and made my commitment to SAR along with two new members Blair and Lorna. So over the coming weeks expect to see and welcome Blair and Lorna as you come across them.

As I said at the AGM, I have given myself 3-4 months to meet as many of you as possible. Don’t expect me to say much, I am in listening mode, getting a sense of what is important to you and where Hamilton SAR is and should be in the future.

So I’ll sign off and hope to see many of you in the coming months. Take care.

Blandy

For a Laugh

A Scotsman walks into the Bank of England in Threadneedle Street, Central London and asks for the manager. He tells the manager that he is going to Australia on business for two weeks and needs to borrow £5,000.

The manager tells him that the bank will need some form of security for the loan, so Hamish hands over the keys and documents of new Ferrari parked on the street in front of the bank. He produces the Log Book and everything checks out. The manager agrees to accept the car as collateral for the loan.

The bank's General Manager and its officers all enjoy a good laugh at the rough looking Scotsman for using a £120,000 Ferrari as collateral against a £5000 loan. An employee of the bank then drives the Ferrari into the bank's underground garage and parks it there.

Two weeks later, Hamish returns, repays the £5,000 and the interest, which comes to £15.41. The manager says, "Sir, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a multi millionaire. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow "£5,000"?

Hamish replies: "Where else in London can I park my car for two weeks for only £15.41 and expect it to be there when I return:"