TRIBUTES have been paid to Severn Area Rescue Association (SARA) member Craig Holmes who has died following an illness.

Craig, of Lydbrook, had been a member of SARA since early 2015.

Until very recently he was a fully operational land search party leader, a rope rescue and swift water rescue technician and leader of the SARA Beachley casualty carer team for the past three years as well as participating in numerous callouts.

SARA chief exe-cutive officer Mark Carwardine said “Craig was a truly remarkable person.

“He sat his re-qualifying casualty care exam only six weeks ago, and in typical Craig style passed with flying colours.

“He was an acc-omplished team member and a true gentleman in every sense of the word, though with a core of steel.

“He had a profound and significant impact upon all of those who got to know him – with his positivity, his warmth, his trade-mark grin and his resolve in the face of adversity. He will be hugely missed.”

Craig had a life-long love of the hills and mountains, and until recently volunteered his time and expertise to supervise Duke of Edinburgh expeditions in North Wales.

He was also an NHS Community First Responder (CFR) since 2010, working with both South West Ambulance (SWAST) and West Midlands Ambulance.

For South West Ambulance Service Trust alone, he had attended nearly 1,500 patients and was active on nearly 2,000 incidents, clocking-up 50,000 hours on call.

He also sat on the CFR Regional Forum.

One former manager of the Forest of Dean CFR Unit paid tribute to him by saying: “Craig made a massive impact in the community as a CFR.

“If he was not able to save the patient involved in the call out, he was able to speak with family members or friends and treat them with the respect they so deserved.”

Another colleague recalled his ded-ication, even going out on foot and making his own maps of the more remote areas of the Forest so that he had individual houses and house names plotted so he could find properties if he was called to them.

“He was a legend and will be missed by many,” he added.