A CHEQUE for more than £5,800 has been handed over to Severn Area Rescue for Wyre Forest (SARA) from former Mayor of Kidderminster, John Campion.

Mr Campion chose SARA as his official mayoral charity from May, 2013 to May, 2014 while he was in office.

During the year Mr Campion hosted various events, which raised money for the charity, including a charity dinner, a bag-packing event, a carol service collection, the Mayor’s Ball and a collection stand in the Swan Centre.

Mr Campion said: “SARA is a fantastic local charity, who are run by volunteers and rely solely on charitable donations to keep their operation running.

“I supported them in my mayoral year as I wanted to champion the important cause and raise awareness in the local area about SARA’s vital work as inshore lifeboats and search and rescue.

“I would like to thank all those that helped me raise this money for this vital local charity.”

SARA will use the money to go toward replacing emergency equipment which the charity had stolen earlier in the year.

Cally Carter, head of support services for SARA, said: “Over the past 12 months Mr Campion has been an incredibly dynamic and enthusiastic supporter of SARA.

“He has worked closely with the crew on many fundraising activities, where he was not afraid to get stuck in alongside the SARA crew at events.

“The team would like to express our deep appreciation for the enormous support over the past year.”

SARA relies solely on charitable funding. Crews typically attend incidents where boats or people are in difficulty and carry out searches for missing people, animal rescues and flood relief.

For more information about the charity or to volunteer call Cally Carter on 01562 850155.