There were major changes to the executive of the Narrabri Volunteer Rescue Association at the recent annual general meeting, setting the group’s leadership structure for the coming year.
Narrabri VRA marked its 46th anniversary in May.
Veteran VRA captain John Hardgrave retired from his position after 32 years but has taken on the role as president following the retirement of long-serving president Sarah Bennett.
Other changes to the squad hierarchy include the new captain Harvey Black, with two deputy captains appointed, Jock Smith and Megan Davies.
Prim Goldman is a new vice president along with the incumbent Peter Andrew.
Maxine Beale was returned as treasurer. Terry Sadler continues as patron.
Trainee Sam Berry is the new tech support officer and Chris Silver, formerly deputy captain and tech support officer has retired from his position.
Reports were provided by the captain, president and training officer on the role of the squad in the past 12 months which revealed that despite COVID restrictions and limitations on operations, the VRA covered a vast range of general land rescue situations.
As well as the usual road crash rescue operations, there were several vertical rescues, some of which were ‘quite testing’, extended searches, and river operations.
Fund raising was curtailed for the period and regular Friday night hotel fundraising raffles were cut back, but are back in operation, the meeting heard. Treasurer Maxine Beale delivered a financial report that the squad had made a small profit for the year to June 30, despite a lot of fundraising being affected by COVID restrictions.
“We are looking forward to some equipment upgrades in the coming 12 months, in addition to quite a lot of new gear acquired in the past year, which will further enhance our response capability,” said Harvey Black.
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