999 Day returned to Beachlands on the Havant B.C. events field adjacent to Funlands and the Hayling Light Railway on Sunday 26th June between 1000hrs till 1700hrs.
Fire and rescue personnel from Hayling Island and Hampshire Fire & Rescue units were joined by Pompiers (firemen) from Hayling’s twin town of Gorron in France as they tackled a caravan fire with potential LPG explosion and rescued one man from the blaze in the first of the action scenarios.
Numerous static stands from the Ambulance, Police, Fire the RNLI, HM Coastguard with its Rescue Team, helicopter, Hampshire SAR team, Hampshire SAR Dogs and Blood Bikers and support Emergency Services including The Red Cross, St Johns Ambulance along with the Hayling Lions Club and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance demonstrated their skills.
The R. C. Model Geeks model aero club flew their planes until one caught fire trailing smoke and then crashed, which required an aircraft crash truck, fire tender and large ground monitor to pump thousands of litres of foam and water onto the resulting blaze of a nearby building.
In the afternoon while a Spitfire from the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flew overhead, a field gun fired by Ubique Right of the Line from the Royal Armouries repeatedly roared on the ground below as air raid siren wailed and explosions marked bombs falling in a WWII action display. 33 military Field Hospital, Gosport responded with their battlefield ambulance, simulating the attack on Hayling and the Sinah gun site in 1941 which casued numerous casualties. With Hayling at the forefront of support for the invasion of Normandy in 1944 the The ceremony of Sunset and the lowering of naval flags by the Havant Police Cadets was led by the Blendworth Brass Band and their conductor Simon Nicholls, in the presence of Deputy Mayor Christine Fournier of Hayling’s twin town of Gorron in Northern France. The fishing boat ‘Torbay Belle’ with skipper Peter developed a fire in the engine room just off the beach to which 3 lifeboats from Hayling and Portsmouth sped to the scene supported by the SAR helicopter from Lee on Solent. Almost as soon as the SAR flight dropped the winchman to the deck of the lifeboat, the aircraft received a real time distress call to go to the aid of someone who had fallen from the cliffs on the Isle of Wight. Deputy Mayor Christine Fournier of Hayling’s twin town of Gorron in Northern France watched from the balcony of the Royal with ‘Winston Churchill’, played by Laurie Noble of HIADS, where the real former prime minister once watched the final rehearsal fro D-Day that led to the liberation of Gorron on the 3rd and 4th August by Patton’s Third Army.
The whole event, which was free for the public to attend, provided a unique insight into the emergency services to see them in action, while showing support for the attending charities that finance the essential work, much of which is funded by voluntary donations.
The ceremony of Sunset and the lowering of naval flags by the Havant Police Cadets was led by the Blendworth Brass Band and their conductor Simon Nicholls, in the presence of Deputy Mayor Christine Fournier of Hayling’s twin town of Gorron in Northern France.
The fishing boat ‘Torbay Belle’ with skipper Peter developed a fire in the engine room just off the beach to which 3 lifeboats from Hayling and Portsmouth sped to the scene supported by the SAR helicopter from Lee on Solent. Almost as soon as the SAR flight dropped the winchman to the deck of the lifeboat, the aircraft received a real time distress call to go to the aid of someone who had fallen from the cliffs on the Isle of Wight.