News from the Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team
Patrick Relay
Summer 2017
Last of the Defenders arrives in Patterdale
Colin Todd of Lakeland Land Rover at Torver hands over the keys for Mobile 4 to Team Leader, Mike Blakey.
Think of Mountain Rescue vehicles and most people think of the Land Rover Defender, a vehicle that has been doing great service across the UK and the world for decades. Back in December, after a lot of work to equip and adapt the vehicle for mountain rescue, we received the keys to one of the last Defenders off the production line from Colin Todd of Lakeland Land Rover at Torver “This was almost certainly the last of the current model of Defender 110 to go into MR service in Britain,” said Colin. “Who knows what Land Rover will come up with in the future but we’ve seen some prototypes in the media and would hope to have a vehicle that will be in service with MR in future for years to come. For now, it’s good to see this vehicle equipped, adapted and ready to go.” We’ve had our vehicles adapted and maintained by the team at Lakeland Land Rover for over 30 years and have previously run three Land Rovers. “Normally at this time, we would be replacing our oldest vehicle
(Mobile 3) with the arrival of the new vehicle,” said Equipment Officer, Glenn Bridge, “but the Team and Trustees have decided to keep Mobile 3 and increase our fleet to four vehicles.” Team Leader, Mike Blakey explained: “With the two busiest years in the Team’s history in 2014 and 2015, we are getting stretched at times with a three vehicle system. Also, with our commitment to water and flood rescue, we became very aware that another nonkit carrying vehicle that could move people around the area was essential.” The team at Lakeland Land
Rover has also been updating and repairing the three existing vehicles to bring them up to as near the same specification as possible. This has involved fitting LED light bars, new exhaust snorkels and new rope winches. A trickle charging system for keeping the vehicles charged at all times in the Rescue Centre garage has also been fitted. “All this work plus the new Mobile 4 should set us up nicely for the next four or five years,” said Mike, “and we’re very grateful to the team down at Torver and, of course, to all our supporters and fundraisers who enable us to make these sorts of major purchases.”
Visit the Patterdale Mountain Rescue web site at www.mountainrescue.org.uk for latest call outs
Grant funding Following the floods at the end of 2015, we’ve been very grateful for the various monies that have been donated in the past 18 months. Some of these have funded improvements to the Rescue Centre to make it more resilient, some have helped us to replace or repair vital Swift Water Rescue and other equipment and there’s been a large donation in kind from BT that will help our communications and those of others in the valley during future emergencies. The largest single donation came from the Cumbria Community Foundation’s Flood Relief Fund. The panel there
WOTAn achievement for Lauren gave us a very generous grant that helped us make our Rescue Centre more water resilient. Base is now as water tight as it can be and we’ve added water barriers to doors, lifted electrics and put in a new, more efficient heating system, plus a larger and more effective drying room.
we have our own auxiliary generator to keep us running. We have also made this facility available to our neighbours at Patterdale fire station.
Finally, a new satellite system is in place and will help us to maintain outside contact and keep essential communications with the statutory We were one of several MR teams who services during an emergency. The received funding from the Department charity arm of BT gave this to us and for Transport to replace or repair a team from BT spent a weekend equipment. It was good to see installing and getting the new system up recognition of all the help that teams and running too. from Wales and down in the SW of Thank you to everyone - businesses, England and elsewhere gave us during government, those who contributed the floods too. to the Flood Relief Fund and all Our communications are now much our supporters for making these more robust should electricity fail as improvements possible.
SUPPORTERS
When young radio ham, Lauren Richardson announced to Dad, Kevin that she wanted to climb and “activate” all 214 Wainwrights, it was a bit of a surprise. Not only was Lauren only 9 at the time but also, just to make things tougher, the family was living in Kent! Two years on and Lauren is about to achieve her ambition. In the process, she’s made radio contact from nearly every Wainwright summit (known as activating WOTA or Wainwrights on the Air) and also raised funds for us and for Keswick MRT. If all goes well, Lauren, Kevin and a group of friends and family plan to climb and activate her final Wainwright, Kirkfell above Wasdale, in August. Lauren will then, at 11 years of age, be the youngest licenced radio amateur to activate all 214 Wainwrights – we wish her the very best of luck. Lauren and Kevin Richardson visited the Rescue Centre over the Easter weekend as part of their most recent Wainwright activating trip.
You can MEET THE TEAM on our Supporters’ OPEN DAY
Sunday 22nd October 11am to 4pm. Have a look around the Rescue Centre, enjoy a cuppa and delicious cakes and see the national Mountain Rescue film. We would love to meet you, say hello and thank you personally for your continued support
Cards for the summer and autumn too We usually announce our new card designs in the Winter issue of Patrick Relay in time for Christmas but don’t forget that they’re available throughout the year. All our card designs are blank inside for your own message – no specific Christmas greetings – and there are several designs that don’t feature snowy tops or winter conditions. Have a look online in our Shop and we’d suggest Misty Autumn Dawn, Gowbarrow and Approaching through the mist as all being ideal images to use throughout the year.
Rotary donation of nearly £3000 to Patterdale MRT The Team was a beneficiary of donations from Rotary Clubs around the UK following the storms of last winter. Representatives of Rotary District 1190, covering Cumbria and Lancashire, visited the Rescue Centre in February and saw the Propaq medical monitoring equipment that their donation of £2890 had financed. Charlie Shepherd, President of the Rotary Club of Penrith, was accompanied by Wendy Aldred, Assistant Governor of Rotary Cumbria and Lancashire. Team members were able to show them the range of equipment used on the mountains to ensure that every casualty has the best possible chance of a full recovery.
The Propaq is a mobile device that monitors oxygen levels, blood pressure and heart rate as well as other vital signs while a casualty is out on the mountains. “It can be a real life saver,” said Jacquie Freeborn, our Chair of the Trustees, “especially if the casualty may be suffering from hypothermia or has suspected heart problems. We tend to use this piece of kit in a whole range of situations so being able to replace the damaged one is invaluable to our work.”
“This is a Team of volunteers that has been at the centre of recovery operations in floods and in other emergencies over the years,” said Charlie, “and Rotary is pleased to give assistance in this way.” In all, Rotary Cumbria and Lancashire raised over £200,000 in donations after Storm Desmond to help groups and communities in Cumbria with money coming into their funds from across the UK. Charlie Shepherd, President of the Rotary Club of Penrith, and District representative, Wendy Aldred met team members and saw the Propaq in action.
“We’ve been able to pass on donations to over 45 different organisations,” said Wendy Aldred, “and it was good to be able to direct some of the money to replace Mountain Rescue kit that was damaged during the floods.” Visit the Patterdale Mountain Rescue web site at www. mountainrescue.org.uk for latest call out information and Team news
PATRICK RELAY l Summer 2017
Working with the Coastguard helicopters
The red and white Coastguard helicopters are becoming a familiar sight in the Lake District, replacing the yellow Sea Kings
You’ll have seen from past issues of Patrick Relay, from our Annual Reviews and from images on Facebook and elsewhere that the helicopters that sometimes help us on rescues are no longer the yellow RAF Sea Kings. More familiar these days are the red and white Bristow machines with Marine Coastguard livery.
The changes and the associated new protocols have had a big impact on MR across the country. Team members have been involved in a lot of training with the crews of the new Coastguard helicopters and there’s been a lot of time invested in building relationships and getting to know the new machines. We’ve worked mainly with crews from Caernarfon and Prestwick, the bases that do most of the work in and around the Lake District, and we’re all getting used to working together effectively. The training has also given us plenty of reasons to work with our neighbouring teams too. “The yellow Sea Kings were getting rather old,” says Team Leader, Mike Blakey, “but we still miss them. Mind you, quite a few of the flight personnel have transferred across and retrained so we still see familiar faces among the crews.”
Just when ewe need a rescue Animal rescues are a relative rarity for the Team but, if local farmers need our services, we’re keen to oblige. Local landowners and farmers are a big help to us with access to or through their land and locations for training so it’s good to be able to help out in return. One such occasion cropped up in April when a local farmer reported a female sheep stuck on a narrow ledge, about 30 metres up on a crag. Team members located the ewe, worked out their best approach and two of us were lowered down to her. A little rope work and a bit of sheep handling and one hungry but safe sheep was safely lowered to the ground. The cragfast ewe was about 30 metres above the ground.
Articles for Relay We are always looking for interesting articles or letters from supporters. Please write c/o Patrick Relay Editor, Ogilvie House, Patterdale, Cumbria CA11 0PJ The Patterdale Mountain Rescue Association Ltd. is a registered charity No1063329 and is affiliated to the Mountain Rescue Council of England and Wales.