An £18,000 fundraising appeal by the Severn Area Rescue Association (SARA) – operator of inshore lifeboats on the Severn Estuary around the clock on every day of the year – has been launched with the support of local housebuilder Cotswold Homes which has new developments taking shape in Bristol, Bath and Clevedon.

The Tormarton-based firm’s head of sales and marketing, Terri Hayes-Pugh, marked the event by handing over a donation of £500 at the charity’s fundraising golf day at Bath’s Lansdown Golf Club.

The cash will be put towards the cost of replacing two engines on one of the association’s lifeboats operating between the Severn Bridge and Gloucester Docks, a stretch of water described by SARA’s Ben Perris as ‘one of the most dangerous in Europe.’

To support SARA’s fundraising appeal call 07792 315189.

Lift-off as Terri-Hayes Pugh of Cotswold Homes, pictured here with Ben Perris of SARA, prepares to take the controls of one of the charity's hovercraft at the launch of the fundraising appeal.