Whilst SOS Entertainment is surviving the situation caused by the party-pooping pandemic, many local charities face a real struggle. Certainly, the lockdown and restrictions on gatherings has left many local charity fundraising events cancelled indefinitely. This in turn means charities are left without the vital fundraising income they depend on to stay afloat.
And this is particularly true for independent rescue boats. Although many of these volunteer crews work alongside the RNLI in ‘shouts’ and search and rescue incidents, unlike the RNLI they don’t receive any government funding.
And it’s defintely the case for an independent rescue boat local to Sean, the Pett Level Independent Rescue Boat (or PLIRB to their friends)!
sean's support FOR local charity fundraising events
This south coast charity rescue service, staffed completely by volunteers, has maintained ‘rescue-ready services’ throughout the pandemic. In fact, they’ve been involved in several ‘shouts’ and responses to incidents of concern.
However, although on-call service has been maintained, the charity has had no income from fundraising over this period. With their usual community fundraising taking a big knock when their 2020 Open Day fundraiser and a special 50th Anniversary Celebration had to be cancelled due to the pandemic.
With running cost of £10,000 a year (and rising) and no external funding apart from what they are able to raise in donations, the PLIRB charity faces real challenges when it comes to staying afloat.
And when this was mentioned to Sean, he started thinking …
“I work with two people who volunteer at Pett Level Independent Rescue Boat and I know the struggle the charity has with being self-funded at such a difficult time. They're working alongside the RNLI so people think they're getting the same sort of money from the government but the truth of it is they have to raise all their own funds.
So I just thought I'd be able to help out as much as I can by taking part in the London to Brighton Cycle Ride - one of the few big charity events still taking place this year - and raise funds for the rescue boat at the same time."
From one sos service to another
Certainly, independent rescue boats do struggle because the public generally just aren’t aware that these charities receive no central or government funding. Instead, these charities have to self-fund to maintain their services.
PLIRB is situated along a particularly hazardous part of the south coast. Often tasked by Solent Coastguard, their services include:
- Rapid-response to call outs – those SOS and Mayday calls
- Search and rescue support
- First Aid
- Safe tow to water craft in difficulties
- Rescue and retrieval for people and vessels in trouble
- Rescue support during inland flooding
The PLIRB charity volunteers also run beach safety awareness and accident-prevention campaigns to help keep visiting members of the public and local beach-users safe.
With all this work to do, Sean’s adamant that getting on his bike to help with the fundraising won’t be the only event SOS Entertainment will be part of for PLIRB.
"The bike ride is just the first stage ... SOS Entertainment's also going to be doing a fun day (fund-day, lol) when Covid allows. We're going to be doing something down there for all the kids, bouncy castles, music ... whatever it takes to get the message out. It's just as important that others can be aware and help donate to their local independent rescue boats as well."
not party on, but pedal on ...
So, with little over a month till the event on Sunday 13th September 2020, the stabilisers are off, the lycra is out and a gruelling training schedule has begun!
Want to get involved?
- Check for event updates on Sean’s dedicated #SOSpedalforplirb fundraising page.
- Keep up to date with the event page on Facebook (this page will have more photos as these are limited on the giving page).
- Do also check back here on updates as Sean’s local charity fundraising events unfold!
- If you can’t donate but want to help, please get on board with sharing Sean’s page and challenge -to help raise awareness as well as funds.
- Click here if you’d like to know more about Pett Level Independent Rescue Boat, charity number 286891.