Did you know that the Mountain Rescue teams cover more than just mountains and lost Duke of Edinburgh groups?
We often work with the Police to search for missing persons. Sometimes it will be a hiker on a hill, other times it's a lost child, a Alzheimer’s patient who's wandered off or even a despondent person who may harm themselves. We also cover a lot more than just the mountains. Moors, woodland, you name it we'll search it!
You never know, maybe the next person we have to search for could be a member of this forum!
Then there's the work with the ambulance and fire services where we extricate casualties from difficult locations. Cars at the bottom of gullies or people who have fallen into rivers are just two examples.
And all this is done by volunteers and on a shoestring budget.
For example, in the Western Beacons area (the largest in south Wales, including the whole of West Wales) there are around only 10 operational members and another 10 or so regular support members. All of whom give up their time and money to help others, while often putting themselves in danger.
This is a lot of work for one small team. Especially when you consider that the MR teams also cover each other's areas if there is a big incident or there just aren't enough members to respond to a call out.
And the cost! No lottery funding for us. Every penny (what little there is!) comes from sponsorship and members shaking buckets in Tescos and running the odd marathon.
Are you feeling sorry for us yet?
This is where you could help out.
If you have some free time I'm sure we can find something worthwhile for you to do! Volunteers are needed to become operational members for searches, casualty care and first aid and the occasional “technical” extraction involving lots of ropes and cliffs. We also need support members who can help raise funds, organise events, care for the kit and vehicles or just to be there to carry bags while others carry a casualty.
Don’t think you would be able to work on the hill itself? There are still opportunities to support the team with whatever time and abilities you may have. Anyone can shake a bucket!
Interested? You are more than welcome to pop along to our regular Monday night training sessions in Bridgend to meet the team and get a better feel for what we do. With weekly training evenings and a full training weekend every month (I was directing a Police helicopter in a search exercise last weekend!) there’s a lot of opportunity to get out on the hill, learn lots of useful skills and even have some fun!
For more information drop me a PM or visit our website at;
http://www.westernbeacons.org.uk/
Thanks for taking the time to read such a long post!!
Nigel.
(Operational support member in training. Did I mention I worked with a helicopter!!!)
PS: a very big thank you to Tony for allowing me to publish this post
We often work with the Police to search for missing persons. Sometimes it will be a hiker on a hill, other times it's a lost child, a Alzheimer’s patient who's wandered off or even a despondent person who may harm themselves. We also cover a lot more than just the mountains. Moors, woodland, you name it we'll search it!
You never know, maybe the next person we have to search for could be a member of this forum!
Then there's the work with the ambulance and fire services where we extricate casualties from difficult locations. Cars at the bottom of gullies or people who have fallen into rivers are just two examples.
And all this is done by volunteers and on a shoestring budget.
For example, in the Western Beacons area (the largest in south Wales, including the whole of West Wales) there are around only 10 operational members and another 10 or so regular support members. All of whom give up their time and money to help others, while often putting themselves in danger.
This is a lot of work for one small team. Especially when you consider that the MR teams also cover each other's areas if there is a big incident or there just aren't enough members to respond to a call out.
And the cost! No lottery funding for us. Every penny (what little there is!) comes from sponsorship and members shaking buckets in Tescos and running the odd marathon.
Are you feeling sorry for us yet?
This is where you could help out.
If you have some free time I'm sure we can find something worthwhile for you to do! Volunteers are needed to become operational members for searches, casualty care and first aid and the occasional “technical” extraction involving lots of ropes and cliffs. We also need support members who can help raise funds, organise events, care for the kit and vehicles or just to be there to carry bags while others carry a casualty.
Don’t think you would be able to work on the hill itself? There are still opportunities to support the team with whatever time and abilities you may have. Anyone can shake a bucket!
Interested? You are more than welcome to pop along to our regular Monday night training sessions in Bridgend to meet the team and get a better feel for what we do. With weekly training evenings and a full training weekend every month (I was directing a Police helicopter in a search exercise last weekend!) there’s a lot of opportunity to get out on the hill, learn lots of useful skills and even have some fun!
For more information drop me a PM or visit our website at;
http://www.westernbeacons.org.uk/
Thanks for taking the time to read such a long post!!
Nigel.
(Operational support member in training. Did I mention I worked with a helicopter!!!)
PS: a very big thank you to Tony for allowing me to publish this post
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