OH!! What A Year……..

As 2020 comes to a close, our Regional Coordinator James Ward reflects on what has proven to be a very challenging, yet highly productive year for 4×4 Response South Wales.

“In what has been an exceptionally busy year for 4×4 Response South Wales, we have not just grown in membership but also increased our professionalism and operational capability.

In a year that first saw us deployed on Storm Dennis the group rapidly transitioned into new territory, re rolling itself to assist community groups and local authorities during the first Covid-19 lockdown. In a period of uncertainty and trepidation, the selfless acts carried out by all responders showed that this Group truly isn’t just here for bad weather, but can form part of any organisations resilience planning.

Despite being exceptionally busy the group has also completed several training exercises and shown its adaptability in embracing technology for both meetings and training seminars.

Our members have also taken the decision to elect a regional committee to oversee the running of our group, which has allowed us to spread out the workload and utilise the skillsets of our members effectively.

As we are now entering into what has traditionally been our busier months due to seasonal inclement weather, we have already experienced extended periods of standby, with the Group ready to deploy in assistance of our partner agencies if called upon.

I would like to thank all the Responders for their hard work this year, and I for one look forward to 2021 where I am sure we can once again move 4×4 Response South Wales forward through the hard work and determination of our members.

James Ward – Regional Coordinator, 4×4 Response South Wales”

After the best part of five challenging months our 4×4 Response South Wales volunteers have completed their final COVID19 tasks. Our group was the first 4×4 Response group in the UK to take on COVID19 tasks and as a result the majority of other regions have followed suit. As a result of how well our group has dealt with providing support to the most vulnerable in society during the COVID19 pandemic, many agencies are coming to ourselves to set up formal contracts to have support over the challenging winter months ahead. Massive praise must go to our regional controller James Ward, who has worked tirelessly to ensure that responders were deployed appropriately so that all tasks were completed to the highest possible standard and efficiency.We are ever so proud of our responders that really have gone above and beyond over the last five months. Thank you!

Below is summary of the final figures for our Covid-19 tasks:

Responders Deployed – 38

Days On Standby – 131

Miles Covered – 17,618

nhs Prescriptions – 1460

PPE Deliveries – 19

Food Bank Deliveries – 61

Volunteer Hours – 3809

Separate Tasks – 1579

Covid Test Marquees – 4

Miscellaneous Tasks – 39

Day 91 and we are still going strong although demand for our services has started to ease which is a good thing as our volunteers are slowly having to get back to some form of normality. So here is another snapshot of what we have been up to during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Miles Covered – 9912

NHS UK Prescriptions – 1212

PPE Deliveries – 18

Food Bank Deliveries – 42

Volunteer Hours – 2437

Separate Tasks – 1312

Covid Test Marquees – 4

Miscellaneous Tasks – 36

Congratulations to Ruben (6) for winning our colouring competition!

This has to be one of 4×4 Response South Wales more unusual COVID-19 tasks!

One of our Responders was contacted directly by a front line worker to see if it would be possible to collect a caravan. At first he thought it was a strange time for someone to be thinking about holidays, but then he got the full story.

The frontline worker was returning to work after a few day off at the start of the lockdown but she was concerned about passing anything on to her family, especially her young daughter. A friend had offered the use of a caravan to go on to her drive but it wasn’t possible to get it out of storage so the decision was made to buy one. Only one problem, no suitable tow vehicle……….

Step in our Responder Jonny Budd! As an experienced caravaner, Jonny was up for the task and so on the Sunday morning he made the short trip up the M4 to make the collection. Once back at the home address, the caravan was set up and everything was checked to be working. The task was completed without any problems. Result, one very grateful and relieved front line worker!

A successful deployment for the 4×4 Response Wales South Wales group helping with Storm Dennis. Throughout the day we assisted communities by transporting members of the public displaced by flooding back to their homes once the waters had receded. By doing so the temporary accommodation set up in the local sports center was able to close earlier than expected and move their staff and responders to different locations.

As well as this we assisted with the transportation of essential workers to Ysbyty Cwm Cynon Hospital in Mountain Ash. Staff were able to perform their usual duties without having to worry about transportation or the administration staff having to find replacements for their shifts.