A WATER rescue service based in Upton-upon-Severn is about to have a change of image and a change of name.

The 30-strong unit, which undertakes search and rescue on inland waterways, is to leave the Severn Area Rescue Association and become Mercia Inshore Search and Rescue (MISAR).

Set up in 2001 in response to the need for a flood rescue service in Upton-upon-Severn, the volunteer unit has evolved into a specialist team with highly trained divers and swift water expertise.

"We began under the banner of SARA, which operates in the Severn estuary, but we have developed in other directions," said David Walker, who will be chairman of the new MISAR unit, operating to the standards of UK SAR (Search and Rescue).

"Providing an inshore rescue boat is still our core activity, but our diving and swift water training are outside the SARA remit.

"After swift water training at Bala in North Wales we are prepared to deal with flood conditions, weirs and fast flowing water on rivers.

"The need for this in flood rescue was demonstrated in the Boscastle disaster, when we saw television film of vehicles being washed inland by the force of the water.

"If there had been people inside those vehicles, they could only have been rescued by people with swift water training."

The unit's skilled divers carry out emergency underwater searches on behalf of the police.

"Scene of crime searches are undertaken by police divers based in West Glamorgan, but we can provide a fast response if someone disappears in a lake or a car plunges into a river," said Mr Walker.

Leaving SARA will give MISAR control of its own funds, whereas the £50,000 a year previously raised by Upton volunteers has gone into the central SARA pot.

The unit, under the leadership of Richard Myers, is continuing to operate as before and the transfer to Search and Rescue is expected to take place later this month.