ALSAR appoints new Chair and Vice Chair

ALSAR kris_manning_alsar_headshotThe Association of Lowland Search and Rescue (ALSAR), which represents the UK’s Lowland Rescue teams, has announced the election of Kris Manning as Chairman, and Adrian Edwards as Vice Chairman.

Kris Manning (right) has been a member of Berkshire Lowland Search and Rescue for 28 years and was author of the original Lowland Search Techniques course, which was used as the basis for Lowland Rescue search standards from 1995.

Kris said, “ALSAR is nearly 20 years old and in that time we have gone from an organisation of three teams to 33 teams. Over 1500 personnel are now providing over 200,000 hours of specialist volunteering annually under the Lowland Rescue banner and the time is right for ALSAR to take the next step and develop our fundraising and overall awareness of Lowland Rescue.”

Thanking the outgoing Chairman, Adrian Edwards, for his leadership over the last few years, Kris stressed that the two would continue to work as a close team alongside the board of Trustees and Officers, but that the new roles would better reflect the division of strategic and national work that the pair would be tackling.

The election sees a return to the Chair for Kris Manning, who held the position in the early years of ALSAR’s national work, but stepped down to concentrate on national training and delivery standards, including the Lowland Rescue Search Planning course launched in 2013.