BWRS are holding their usual Barrington Tops SAREX over the weekend of 18/19 October 2008 and we have been invited. If you are interested in attending please contact me ASAP. I've attached some extracts of a letter from BWRS for your information.

Peter Brady
secr...@caverescue.org.au

The details and plan for the Walli weekend have been amended from the initial announcement with an update posted here. See the attached PDF for full details and contact Terry Matts as soon as possible if you are interested.

terr...@caverescue.org.au
M: +61 429 963 189

NSW Cave Rescue August 2008 News

Welcome to New and Prospective Members

I'd like to say a big welcome to the following new members that were approved
at the last meeting - the paperwork is in the post and should get to you tomorrow:

• Michael Collins
• Tina Willmore
• Michael Fraser
• Peter Grills
• Dirk Stoffels
• Caroline Forest
• Meredith Brainwood

Also I've received three other membership applications that will be presented
to the next meeting. The applicants are:

• Megan Pryke
• Al Warild
• Luke Caple

The NSW Cave Rescue Squad will be holding it's Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 13th August 2008 at the Klemm Street HQ Building. The meeting is scheduled to start at 1930 hours and light refreshments will be provided.

A copy of the meeting agenda is attached.

Peter Brady
NSW Cave Rescue Secretary

Joe Sydney has put together the brief for the September Walli Exercise, see below and attached. Please contact Joe directly if you are interested and his contact details are on the PDF attachment.

The NSW Cave Rescue Squad will hold a cave rescue training weekend at Walli caves on 19, 20 & 21 September 2008. The day will cover the introduction of basic theory and practical aspects of cave rescue engineering/microshaving, and, plug and feather techniques.

Details of the August 2008 Timor event are now available, see the attached PDF for full details.

We've just received notification that the next BWRS Remote Areas First Aid Course will be run over two weekends in August: 2/3 and 16/17 to be precise. For full information please check the PDF flier attachement and contact BWRS directly.

I'd like to remind all members that they must maintain a current first aid certificate and, by all accounts, these are excellent courses.

As we are slowly transitioning to the new website we have received a number of requests to access the old data. It is still available at:

http://www2.caverescue.org.au/

However, over time all the old content will be migrated to the new site.

The Squad was called in to assist the major cave rescue operation at Wombeyan over the weekend. Local VRA Berrima, Goulburn Police Rescue and Ambulance were already on site when CRS arrived. All the personnel worked well together and the Squad was pleased to be of assistance.

A number of specialist techniques were used to assist in the extraction of the casualty and included: re-engineering the cave to increase access; vertical haul systems to lift the casualty up vertical climbs and traverse lines to transport the casualty horizontally over rough ground. Member and inter-agency training came to the fore for the smooth running of these systems in this operation.

The Squad will be holding a Traffic Controllers Training Course on Wednesday 14th May at our HQ. If you are a local, or not so local, rescue operator and are interested attending you are most welcome. The training will be run by Grace Matts and Ray Gill and should last about two hours.

Please contact the Secretary (secr...@caverescue.org.au) for RSVP and more details.