Sea-riously Fantastic Fundraising for Lifeboat Crew!

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Thanks to the incredible generosity of our staff and customers, we’re delighted to share that in 2025 we raised an amazing £4,033.89 for Gosport and Fareham Inshore Rescue Service (GAFIRS) in support of their vital lifesaving work.

This past year, Garsons Titchfield has been proud to support GAFIRS, an independent lifeboat crew dedicated to saving lives along the Hampshire coastline.

Founded in 1969, Gosport and Fareham Inshore Rescue Service is an independent lifeboat service. The team provides emergency rescue cover across the Eastern Solent and Portsmouth Harbour—responding rapidly to incidents within approximately 30 minutes of Garsons Titchfield.

GAFIRS operates around the clock, 365 days a year. Its volunteer crew members maintain regular day jobs but respond immediately when paged by the Coastguard, often facing challenging conditions at sea.

On average, the team responds to around 100 incidents annually. These range from mechanical failures and groundings to medical incidents, persons overboard and other life-at-risk emergencies.

GAFIRS also provide a wide range of services to the community. These include delivering safety presentations to water sports clubs, accident prevention and beach safety events at schools, promotions at local fairs and fetes such as the 999-emergency services day and the highly successful New Years Day Swim.

Throughout the year, Garsons Titchfield supported GAFIRS in a variety of meaningful ways, including:

Encouraging customers to donate via in-store collection pots and through the Garsons JustGiving page
Donating stock to support fundraising activities
Hosting the GAFIRS demonstration boat and information stand on-site to raise awareness of their work
Creating a heartfelt Christmas Memory Tree, where staff and customers could write messages in remembrance of loved ones. Over 300 tags were placed on the tree, helping to raise additional funds while honouring and celebrating cherished memories

“We are delighted to have been chosen as Garsons Titchfield’s Charity of the Year for 2025/26. The support has been incredibly important to us. Funds raised by Garsons customers will go directly towards purchasing new life jackets, dry suits, and personal locator beacons (PLBs) for our crew. The money raised will make a real difference. Thank you.”

—Joanne, GAFIRS Chair of the Board of Directors