Mr. David Goddard:

We are 100% volunteers. We are not paid volunteers, such as the coastguard. We receive no call-out fees. It costs us money to do a rescue. As an individual, I have to pay for my own petrol to get to the call-out. If I miss work, I lose a day's pay. We have been compared to a number of national voluntary charitable organisations such as the Red Cross. Those are large organisations which all have full-time, paid employees whose primary function is fund-raising. We do not have that capacity and cannot afford it. We are all 100% volunteers. In order for me to take on the role as national secretary and do the job justice, I had to retire. I am now in a position to give my time to that.