charity calendar - update

If you are referring to COMRU in the Lakes they are part of the MR circles, as is some Cave Rescue Teams. I don't know of any other voluntary mines rescue teams except COMRU.

Dave

Interesting choice of comparisons Dave. I thought maroons had long gone and its all pager/radio call outs now. Yes, you may see the boat depart the moorings but then thats it, its just a dot on the horizon. To me a MR incident is far sexier with a blue light run in the 110 ambulances, driving off road to get to the casualty, a helicopter coming in to land, watched by

300 people. Watching you perform first aid on the casualty as you carry them to the helicopter and then the helicopter departs, leaving the team with the aftermath of the incident to deal with. Happened to us three weeks ago.

Unfortunately every one affiliated to the Mountain Rescue Council changed their names to help MR corporate image, all the fell rescue, search and rescue, moorland rescue became Mountain Rescue, trying to help the public be aware of who Mountain Rescue is, but i don't think it worked :)

Agree with you on the name change, because that's what we do. But, in saying that we don't just do mountain incidents, we search in urban & rural flat areas, we help the fire or police or ambulance service in city centres with our skill and equipment, we help the ambulance service with peak demand incidents and at Christmas. Blatant plug have alook at our website and see the diverse range of incidents we deal with

and then I'm just adding fire to your name change proposal. The thing is each MRT has its own identity and as one the top table of MR isn't seen the same as the RNLI. But still no-one says where is the sea in City centre Manchester when the RNLI tin gets full.

I'll get me coat :)

Dave

where you at then?

Regards. Mark.

"Where are the mountains in Bolton?" questions...

Wilton. They're just not very tall....

Steve

The primary call out may well be pager these days but I think they still fire the maroons so the support staff know and can make their way to the station (get the kettle on for when the boat comes back in...) and also to let people know that that lunatic driving with all his lights on and barging through the traffic isn't really a lunatic but a volunteer lifeboat man trying to get to the lifeboat station.

Says him having met a couple of the local retained firemen coming the other way on a wet night and was left wondering who those plonkers were. It wasn't until I saw the Fire/Rescue tender driving around 10 mins later that I realised who it was...

Yes, but it's all happening fast, with lots of people "doing things", normally in a fairly open public place (harbour or beach front). Not a deserted, wet, wind swept car park half way up a mountain. Bolton may be different as it's a *very* densly populated area compared to here.

Yes but I get the feeling you are in the 110 and directly involved, that *is* much more exciting that standing watching. The helo will pull people in but round here all you'll see of that is it flying in/out more often than not it's a RAF SAR helo rather than the Air Ambulance so doesn't need to land to pick up...

I think you are right. No doubt someone, with blinkers, at the top of MRC wanted to retain the word "Mountain" a mistake IMHO. A quick look at the ALSAR site indicated that there is an offical goverment body called UKSAR so that couldn't be used but SARUK could and that does have certain "ring" to it and sounds good when spoken.

But I bet the great unwashed of Manchester visit the coast and see the lifeboat station. Chances are it's probably open so they can look at the boat and the information boards etc. They may also witness a launch, even if only a practice for the publicity...

The same great unwashed may well visit the "mountains" but Mountain Rescue posts are generally closed and locked up and not in such highly public places.

Had a call out? B-)

Names again. The Mendips have an underground rescue team but I guess they call themselves Cave Rescue rather than Mines as the holes are natural rather than man made. Up here the holes are mostly man made, so we have a Mines Rescue...

So where is up here, come on give me a clue ?

Dave

In message , Dave H writes

Indeed we do. Sorry if I misunderstood the situation regarding MR funding - confused it with Scotland.

Although I live in Cheshire I am actually in Staffs Search & Rescue. I am about to join Cheshire also who I know have been involved with yourselves. Staffs has initially focussed on use of 4X4s to assist emergency services (plug for calendar support) but have recently undergone substantial training with Cheshire on Missing Person Search techniques. It was all new to me and I was amazed at just how complex an issue it is and the apparent shortage of expertise within the police.

As always there is a big issue of image and perception, RNLI have very successfully and professionally projected theirs over a number of years, and have created a favourable position in the minds of the public, and good luck to them. MR and LSAR have to learn from them and do the same thing.

Mention missing person searches and everyone thinks of the line of villagers lined up for the benefit of the TV crews at the edge of a field which has already been carefully searched by the police tactical search team. I am sure you have similar problems with MR and we need to change things.

There is actually a Stafford Mountain rescue team and we do have technically zero mountains in Staffs - it's at RAF Stafford, shortly to be relocated to Scotland I believe.

Funny you should say that - I have a submission in with the Lottery at the moment making just that point - I'm not holding my breath though.

Sorry, North Pennines, Englands Last Wilderness. You can fit a good half dozen or so Dartmoors in a ring around us on the fells and moors.

Pink Panther territory?

in article snipped-for-privacy@individual.net, Paul - xxx at snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote on 5/5/05 2:16 pm:

Couldn't agree more. Brilliant when my Dad died too.

In message , Nikki writes

All the charities mentioned do a splendid job and all are worthy of support. So how do you decide which one?

The original idea was to support breast cancer, so related health issues would be appropriate. On the other hand this is a Land Rover group so something Land Rover or 4x4 related might also be appropriate. The well established charities already have substantial fund raising capability in place including in many instances access to Lottery funding. On the other hand Search and Rescue teams, Lowland or Mountain, etc. get little public recognition and have had several applications to the Lottery rejected on the somewhat spurious grounds that we can't prove the people we assist will be 75% from ethnic minorities, the elderly, the young, from economically disadvantaged areas, live in areas which have not had their fair share of lottery grants etc. helping people on the basis of need doesn't seem to count.

We in Staffs have used 4x4s on a couple of occasions to free up hundreds of commuters trapped by black ice in Stoke and to evacuate flood victims from a small village. We have also assisted Cheshire in a couple of missing person searches in each case for people with psychological problems and recently were on standby to help recover a body from a block of flats.

At the end of the day it's your call Mark, I'm sure we'll all support you whatever you decide.

What do folks think about The Mountain Rescue Council

I sent them an email and had this reply..

*********************************** Hi Mark

Thank you very much for your email. There are a number of activities which then central body does that supports the teams around the country. There are national training courses, when possible due to financial reasons equipment is purchased and distributed to teams, conferences are run by the central body, it pays for public liability insurance for all the teams, we have a national newsletter which is a very important communication tools. The central body is vital to the Mountain Rescue teams.

I hope this answers your question and you decide to move forward with Mountain Rescue as your beneficiary of your event. Sadly we lost over £4,000/annum overnight when our affinity card was sold on to another bank and they decided not to continue with the account.

If you would like to discuss anything further please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards Penny Brockman MRC Treasurer

******************************************

any thoughts folks?

Regards. Mark.

And being totally partisan of course I woud suggest the National Autistic Society,

Not many mountains in Bradford, but what the hell??

Nige

-- Subaru WRX (Annabel)

Landrover 110 County Station Wagon (Tyson)

'"They called him Jimmy the gent"

just Mountain in Queensbury :O)

Close to Egypt & the bay of biscay too!!!

Some odd names up that part of the 'ford!

Nige

-- Subaru WRX (Annabel)

Landrover 110 County Station Wagon (Tyson)

'"They called him Jimmy the gent"