The mother of missing RAF serviceman Corrie McKeague is backing a charity ball to raise money for search and rescue volunteers who devoted more than 6,000 hours to finding the airman.
Suffolk Lowland Search and Rescue (SULSAR), a registered charity which relies on donations for specialist equipment, were involved in the search for the RAF Regiment gunner after he disappeared last year.
Corrie was last seen on September 24 in Bury St Edmunds at 3.24am in an area behind shops, off Brentgovel Street.
The theory he may have tried to walk home led to thousands of hours spent searching hundreds of acres between Bury and RAF Honington, where Corrie had been based for three years.
Corrie’s mother, Nicola Urquhart, said via the Find Corrie Facebook group that she will do all she can to raise the profile of the charity.
The event at the Bull Inn in Barton Mills, near Mildenhall, will take place on Friday, December 1, with tickets priced at £49 per person.
Posting on Facebook, Mrs Urquhart said: “I am sure you all know how important the amazing volunteers of SULSAR are to me and my family.
“I will always do all I can to raise their profile and support anything that can raise funds for them.
“Every year the fantastic team at the The Bull Inn have a charity ball where they raise money for various charities and deserving causes and this year I’m delighted that Cheryl Hickman, Sonia Hickman and all their staff have chosen SULSAR.
“I try hard to be positive as it helps me trying to cope with the situation my family has found itself in.
“This gives me something to look forward to as it’s an opportunity to give SULSAR a little something back.
“Myself and my family will all be there and hope to have the opportunity to say hello to anyone that is able to make it.”
Police are currently searching a landfill site in Milton, Cambridgeshire, for a trace of the 23-year-old after resuming the hunt on October 23.
Last month, an independent review of Suffolk police’s investigation into the search for Corrie found it was “thorough, methodical and detailed” and that he is most likely to be in the landfill they are searching.
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