Lions Club provides new immersion suits for Channel Islands Air Search
05/10/2021
5 October 2021- The Lions Club of both Guernsey and Jersey have provided all the crew of Channel Islands Air Search with new immersion suits, last replaced over 20 years ago.
Paul Allaway from the Lions Club said: ‘The Lions Club of Guernsey has a long association with CIAS and when we learnt the crew needed some new immersion suits we were happy to get involved. Due to the wide-ranging area of the aircraft’s operation, it was decided to contact the Jersey Lions Club to see if they would support this project and between the two Clubs, funds were raised to provide the new suits.
Following the presentation of the suits, the Lions Club of Guernsey also provided the crew with three new noise cancelling headsets to make the time spent in the air more comfortable.’
John Fitzgerald, Search Crew Manager for Air Search said: ‘As a charitable organisation with annual operating costs, we rely totally on the goodwill of the public and organisations to help us provide 24/7search and rescue cover in and around the Channel Islands.
‘The crews wear immersion suits when the sea temperature is below 16C, which is for much of the year, so they are an essential but costly piece of kit. Survival in the water in winter is just 30 minutes but with an immersion suit, around eight hours. We remain grateful to the Lions Club in both Guernsey and Jersey for their continued support over the last 40+ years CIAS has been in operation.’