If it was my child missing I'd want people rushing to help

INVESTMENT banker James Walker leads a double life.

- CECILIA ADAMOU

Despite his demanding job and being the dad of three young children, he is on call 24/7 as a volunteer with London Search and Rescue.

It means scouring parks, woodlands, streets and even rivers in a kayak for missing people.

And when he's called on for help, it takes priority over everything.

James, 41, says: "When the call comes through, it overrides all the settings on the phone so you can have your phone on silent and suddenly that alert goes off.

"That initial feeling is of adrenaline.

You're given the outline of what the situation is, where you need to get to.

It could be anywhere in London." James's day job is head of audit for a Swiss bank, having worked in banking for more than 20 years.

He first became involved in volunteering as a trustee, using the skills he'd built up throughout his career to help with the organisation and governance of charities.

"A lot of the experience that I brought in from the banking world really helped the charities but it also worked the other way around," he says.

As he learned more about the amazing work various charities do, he became drawn towards helping find missing people. In 2022 he began working with London Search and Rescue.

Already passionate about outdoor sports and a supporter of Mountain Rescue, he soon developed a much more hands-on role with the search and rescue team.

He says: "I've always felt it's really important to do something to help others.

"So being able to do that in a more practical hands-on way and not always being on a committee behind the scenes was something that kind of caught my attention there." Made up entirely of volunteers and working alongside the police and other rescue services, LonSAR's aim is to help end preventable loss of life in London.