Kris Manning, chairman of Association of Lowland Search and Rescue

A veteran search and rescue team member has returned to head the national organisation that represents volunteers in non-mountainous areas.

Kris Manning was elected chairman of the Association of Lowland Search and Rescue by representatives from the 33 organisations in the national body.

He takes up the post he held in the association’s early years and will work with outgoing chairman Adrian Edwards, who becomes vice-chairman.

Mr Manning has been a member of Berkshire Lowland Search & 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.

He said: “Alsar is nearly 20 years old and in that time we have gone from an organisation of three teams to 33 teams. Over 1,500 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.”

He thanked Adrian Edwards for his leadership over the last few years and stressed 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 Mr Manning, who had stepped down from the post to concentrate on national training and delivery standards, including the lowland rescue search planning course launched in 2013.

Alsar member teams cover large areas of England, from Kent to Cheshire, as well as Northern Ireland.