Brockham Emergency Response Team (BERT) is a volunteer community resilience group – helping the community during floods or other threats, supported by Brockham Emergency Volunteers (BEVs). It also provides a local community email news/alert service.
BERT evolved following the flooding that occurred in Brockham village in December 2013. It became clear that a local response was needed during such times, to help protect the lives and property of those, particularly elderly and infirm residents, in distress.
Since that time, BERT has recruited and trained over 50 active volunteers (and 12 young volunteers under 18) to help provide assistance and information to residents during severe weather or other local emergency, and to turn out for organised working parties to help keep drains and ditches free flowing. The group also provides information to the local council and Flood Forum to enable them to take action to avoid future flooding problems.
There is always equipment, protective clothing etc. to finance and BERT continues to be funded by generous public donations and local fundraising activities. We are always looking to recruit new volunteers that we can call on in the event of any future emergency. If you would like to be included on our growing list of willing helpers (either on the BERT team for more physical activities or as a BEV – Brockham Emergency Volunteer – to be called on when the community needs it), we would love to hear from you – simply contact us at BERT.Brockham@gmail.com.
In January 2017, BERT was officially recognised as a charity – ‘Community Support in the Countryside’ (Registered Charity Number 1171175).
For more information on BERT, visit:
www.bert.interests.me where you can find links to a log of all work carried out, and also sign up to the community information email list.
To find out more about all the activities BERT have completed, have a look at these documents:
