Supporting Mountain Rescue Teams

[nigeltm]

Guys,

Last weeks events in Machynlleth have shone a light on the work of the many Mountain Rescue and Search and Rescue volunteer Teams across the UK. With Tony's permission I thought I'd put up some information on the Team I have the honor of being a member of. I’m also making a plea on the behalf of all MRTs for support and donations.

In addition to a number of “simple” callouts, in the last three weeks the Bridgend, south Wales, based Western Beacons Mountains Search And Rescue Team has;

- searched for, found and recovered the body of a dog walker near Milford Haven
- searched for, found and recovered the body of a despondent male near Pembroke Dock
- had 10 to 15 team members searching day and night for April Jones from last Tuesday through to Sunday
- searched at night for, found and safely rescued a walker who had fallen in a deep hole near Fishguard

"Proper" mountain rescue callouts are an ever shrinking part of what the Teams do. More and more calls come in to search lowland and urban areas for potential suicides, missing children and more. Sadly these operations don't always have a happy ending

It has been a stressful and harrowing time for all of the Team. Especially for the guys who attended the first two call outs and still turned out for the Machynlleth search. They have given their time from their families, used up sparse leave time from work and all without pay or recognition (not that they ask for any!).

These are the most impressive people I have ever had the privilege to know and work with. The same can be said about any volunteer member of a Search and Rescue Team.

All MRTs are registered charities which rely on public and corporate support.

This is where you come in!

If you have the time to spare, please consider joining your local MRT. You don’t have to be a super fit racing snake (I’m certainly not!), as there plenty of jobs to do that do not involve running up and down mountains.

Most Teams have Operational Support members. These members attend callouts and provide vital support functions that free up the hill members to the hands on rescue work. This can be driving, radio operation, logistics, search management or just making the tea.

Teams also need the “back room” staff to help the non-operational management of the charity. Fundraising, publicity, accounts, building maintenance, vehicle maintenance and so on. There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to maintain the Team’s operational standing.

If you can’t give your time you can always give your money.

If you would like to support the Western Beacons team you can donate money via text message. Just text WBMR40 followed by £1, £2, £3, £4, £5, or £10 to 70070

From now until November 17th the South Wales Echo newspaper is running its "Wish 2012" charitable donation campaign. The paper is giving shares of a £25,000 fund to charities across south Wales. Tokens are printed in each issue of the paper for the public to cut out and send to the charity. The more tokens a charity collects the bigger the share of the fund. If you can collect tokens on the Team’s behalf please send them to;

Wish 2012
27 Regent Street East
Neath
SA11 2RU

​

Search and Rescue volunteers come from all walks of life, have varied skills to offer, come from all types of background. They are all different. The one thing they have in common is a commitment and desire to get out there, day or night, to help those in dire need.

Now they need your help.

http://www.westernbeacons.org.uk/
http://www.facebook.com/westernbeaconsmrt
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/wish-2012/

 

[Harvestman]

Absolutely first class post. I've never had cause to call on these people, but it is good to know that they are there. I'm going to look up my local mountain rescue team and see if volunteering is feasible for me.

Thank you.

 

[Joonsy]

three very worthy causes i support are the Mountain Rescue and Lifeboats (RNLI) and Air Ambulance

 

[nigeltm]

three very worthy causes i support are the Mountain Rescue and Lifeboats (RNLI) and Air Ambulance

Thanks for that Joonsy.

The main difference between MR and the RNLI and Air Ambulance is that they are national charities. MRTs are very much local based. While my Team has the single biggest area in the UK (everything west of a line from Cardiff to Aberdare and Aberystwith) most cover much smaller areas, such as a single valley.

The RNLI and Air Ambulance have centralised fundraising, publicity and support resources. While your typical MRT relies on a couple of unpaid volunteers and the WI!

Think of it this way. The RNLI (who only cover costal waters) can afford to run a training campus (complete with helicopter dunk tank simulator) just outside Poole. Our Team can barely afford to repair the roof of our base building. I'm not resentful, honest!

We're always on the lookout for support and fundraising opportunities. While the "big boys" have these things thrown at them.

 

[nigeltm]

Absolutely first class post. I've never had cause to call on these people, but it is good to know that they are there. I'm going to look up my local mountain rescue team and see if volunteering is feasible for me.

Thank you.

I'm sure the guys at Longtown will appreciate that. They're based in Abergavenny a short distance from the Neville Hall hospital.

http://www.longtownmrt.org.uk/

 

[Joonsy]

Hi nigeltm, you raised some good interesting points there which i understand very well and am sympathetic too, my brother used to be a member of SARA and fundraising played a big part as it was always hard to have enough funds to cover the proper functioning and equipment, in these difficult economical times the less well funded rescue services may need rescuing themseves with fundraising if they are to survive and i for one certainly hope they manage to do so, anyone who has been at the receiving end of rescue will be mighty glad they existed and the part less seen but so important is the comfort brought to the families of the person trying to be located/helped that someone is out there trying. A note to other folks, just remember a small donation could help save someones life, and that someone may be you or one of your family.

 

[Harvestman]

I hope the publicity generated by the April case highlights the importance of funding for MR teams too.

 

[Joonsy]

I hope the publicity generated by the April case highlights the importance of funding for MR teams too.

absolutely, and even though the case is slowly dissappearing off the telly some of them are still out there searching right now as we speak i believe.

 

[nigeltm]

absolutely, and even though the case is slowly dissappearing off the telly some of them are still out there searching right now as we speak i believe.

The MR Teams were stood down on Sunday. Now there are approximately 100 Police Officers and 30 or 40 HM Coast Guard searchers in the area. Pretty much everyone I've spoken to is frustrated that we have been stood down but we understand that the Police see the big picture and are planning the search based on the intelligence they have. That said, if the Police call us back in you can bet there will be a similar response all over again.

 

[nigeltm]

Bump ...

 

[EdS]

Quick post as on phone. But just to echo Nigel and to say don't forget Cave rescue teams as well. There where a number there. Three of the MRTs do cave as well.