RAPID and royalty went hand in hand as West Devon left its mark on a prestigious dinner held earlier this month. Graham Payne, director of RAPID-UK and John Holland, director of Operations of RAPID-UK, attended the dinner at Claridges in London on July 4. The dinner was hosted by the Aga Khan to celebrate his Golden Jubilee. The event was also attended by senior members of the Government, Baroness Thatcher, diplomats, distinguished leaders from industry, academia, the arts and the NGO sector as well as leaders of the Ismaili community. RAPID-UK has been involved with FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance, part of the Aga Khan Network, for the past five years. Much of the work carried out between RAPID- UK and FOCUS has involved the development of indigenous teams to respond to the various disasters that are encountered around the world. The charity is currently training teams in India, Pakistan and Portugal for FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance as well as training a specialist UK response team made up from the Ismaili community. This selected team is undergoing an 18-month training programme with RAPID-UK and once operational will predominantly respond to disasters that occur in countries that have a FOCUS presence. RAPID-UK (Rescue and Preparedness In Disasters), is a charity supported solely by public donations — all its members are volunteers. Formed in 1995, as a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) the charity has attended earthquakes, floods and hurricanes in more than 25 countries, and has trained numerous teams in-country.