Today SVLB remains an active part of the Search and Rescue organisation in Sunderland. Working closely with the local lifeboat and coastguards we are called to attend all manner of incidents from reports of vessels in distress and people injured along the coast to manning helicopter landing sites for the RAF rescue helicopter.

We maintain an active education programme in schools and the watchouse educating young people about the dangers of the seaside.

The team consists of three parts:-

The Management Commitee
The commitee do an excellent job of providing us with the necessary funds to continue our work as well as the day to day management of the charity.

The Initial Response Team (IRT)
These members of the team are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They carry pagers and are able to attend any incident within our area in less than 30 minutes of the initial alert.

The Backup Response Team (BURT)
These members are also on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and will be called upon for larger searches or cliff rescues where there are larger manpower requirements. A full BURT is available on scene within 60 minutes of a callout.