The founder and regional Commander of the Community Rescue Service (CRS), Mr Sean McCarry, has been awarded an OBE as part of the 2022 new years honours.
Receiving his OBE for services in the community in Northern Ireland, Sean has nurtured and watched the CRS charity grow from an idea in 2007 into the vital search and rescue service called upon alongside the traditional blue light emergency services.
Originally beginning on the North Coast, the charity now boasts volunteers throughout Northern Ireland serving their five districts.
According to the CRS website, the service is ‘the only accredited Lowland Rescue search and rescue organisation in N Ireland’ and ‘provides all aspects of search and rescue falling under the remit of Lowland Rescue including ground, inland water, bike, boat and more’.
As well as continuing to remain very much on the front line of the CRS, Sean is often seen & heard promoting and encouraging the need for new volunteers in various roles from fundraising and driving to boots on the ground.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph this evening, Sean told the paper: “Whilst I am extremely honoured, I must stress this recognition is not for me, it is for all the volunteers in Community Rescue Service past and present, both operational and support, it is for their families, and it is for everyone who has supported CRS since its foundation in 2007 until now.
“At this time, I also think of those who have been helped by the CRS and of how they have helped us and I include them in our wider family.
“It is also for our entire community from where we get our name, our volunteers, and our support. I am very proud and privileged to accept this recognition on their behalf.
“This honour is not a recognition of an individual, it is the recognition of a united community working together day and night for others in their time of need and I am so very honoured to be part of that community.”
In more recent years, Sean and his teams across Northern Ireland have featured in the hugely popular BBC NI program ‘The Search’ currently in its 2nd series, highlighting the work they do. One episode even covered teams tasked to the tragic search for Belfast teenager Noah Donohoe.
For more information visit: www.communityrescue.org
