SURREY Search and Rescue (SS&R) is celebrating receiving the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service 2016 – the ‘MBE’ for volunteer groups.

The team of dedicated volunteers, who help the emergency services find missing vulnerable adults and children, is one of six groups in the county to receive the prestigious award.

SS&R is on-call 24 hours a day and has a team of more than 50 volunteers and eight search dogs to respond across Surrey and surrounding areas.

Members are trained to find and give first aid to anyone who is reported missing or lost and evacuate them to safety, and they operate in woodland, farmland, town centres and around water, wherever the emergency services need extra help and manpower.

More than 2,100 people go missing in Surrey every year and the charity’s aim is to respond as quickly as possible and minimise the time that the missing person is trapped outdoors.

An official member of the UK’s Lowland Rescue provision, SS&R has the same role as Mountain Rescue, the Coastguard and the RNLI, among others, and works closely with neighbouring county teams and the national association.

The awards were created in 2002 to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee and winners are announced each year on June 2, the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.

The team will receive the crystal award from the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, Michael More-Molyneux, later this summer.

The charity was nominated by ex-deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey, Jeff Harris, with supporting letters from former Surrey Chief Constable Lynne Owens, and Russell Pearson, Surrey Fire and Rescue Service’s Chief Fire Officer,

Surrey Search and Rescue’s head of search Jon Rumbol said: “It is fantastic for the team to be recognised for all the hours put in, training to be the best at what they do, be it a search technician, dog handler, flood rescue technician or search drone pilot.”

The group’s head of training, Jill Thorpe, added: “The award is a wonderful pat on the back, and makes us all feel that the hours we spend searching for missing loved ones in the cold, wet and dark is appreciated.”

Frensham Ponds Sailability, which aims to provide first class sailing facilities for disabled people at Frensham Pond Sailing Club, near Farnham, was also honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.

A spokesman said: “This award reflects the hard work, commitment and enthusiasm of literally hundreds of regular volunteer helpers and support from the club over 15 years since Sailability was launched in September 2001.”

Other Surrey award winers were The Bereavement Service of the Princess Alice Hospice in Esher, Brooklands Museum Volunteers, Spelthorne Museum and The Orpheus Centre in Godstone.

Mr Michael More-Molyneux said: “Wherever I go, I am humbled by the levels of volunteering in this county.

“Without doubt, the volunteers in these six groups together reflect extraordinary levels of volunteering and selfless contributions that make a real difference in their communities, and they deserve our gratitude and congratulations.”

Award winners in in West Sussex were Arundel Museum Society Volunteers, the Community Minibus Association, Ferring Conservation Group, and The Volunteers of the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum. Hampshire’s Eastleigh Youth and Community Trust’s ’The Pavilion on the Park’, and Fixers volunteers both honoured.

• To make a nomination to go www. qavs.direct.gov.uk.