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Patrick Relay
“Thank you to the Team as well as to everyone who has heeded the advice, resisted the temptations and stayed away from the fells. We understand how hard that has been but, hopefully, it has been worth it to protect family and key workers. As the lockdown begins to ease, please continue to think of all those people – including our Team volunteers – and stay close to home. Stay safe and stay well.” Mike Rippon, Team Leader
New website for Patterdale MRT A focus group of Team members and Trustees, led by Dave Freeborn, has been working with Neil Burnett Design in Kendal on a new website for the Team. As Patrick Relay went to press, it was almost ready to go live.
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“These have been strange months for the Team and it has been a huge challenge to prepare us all to meet the operational challenges created by Covid 19. We have held regular online meetings – I seem to have got to know about Google Meet, MS Teams and many other new software and apps – and we’ve managed to keep in touch but, more importantly, like colleagues in all frontline services, our priority has been to stay fit and healthy in readiness for when we are next called upon. There has been a huge commitment by all involved in the Team over the months, and I’m pleased to say we have embarked on new exciting projects which will serve to enhance and improve the service we provide. You can read more about that inside this newsletter.”
“We all currently face unprecedented challenges to our ways of life but we know that sometime in the future ‘normality’ will return and people will be back out on the hills and the lake, and enjoying them with even greater enthusiasm and appreciation. When that time comes, we must be prepared. A part of that readiness is our equipment of which a key element is the vehicles. We are in the process of replacing one of our Land Rovers and you will find out a great deal more about the vehicle and our fundraising for its purchase and modification in this issue.” “We need your help, your generosity, to assist with this purchase. We absolutely recognise that you may well have other, possibly more pressing, priorities at the moment, but please help where you can. But most important, stay well!” Chris Sanderson, Chair of PMRA
As well as clear information about the Team, its people, the area it covers and an archive of incident reports, the new website also makes much more of the potential for online giving, fundraising and legacies.
and the website can play its role in helping to support the Team, whether for special appeals or for the constant challenge of raising our nearly £80,000 annual running costs.”
“Our website tells the story of what we do and who we are,” says Dave, “but it should also do a job in terms of donations and support. I think this is now much clearer
See for yourself at www.mountainrescue. org.uk and the Team is now on Instagram (as well as Facebook and Twitter) if you’d like to follow us there and keep in touch.
Visit the Patterdale Mountain Rescue web site at www.mountainrescue.org.uk for latest call outs
A major purchase and a first for mountain rescue As many of our supporters will know, we’ve been running four Team vehicles since the flooding in the area back in 2015. When we made that decision, we realised that it meant stretching the active life of our Mobile 3 vehicle to a magnificent 16 years (four more than the usual 12–year life in MR service) and it’s done a grand job but now really needs replacing. The Team vehicles officer, Mike Childs, and Team member (and HGV driver), Neil Barrow, took on the job of investigating the available options. We’re now delighted to announce that Patterdale MRT is going to be one of the first mountain rescue teams to use the new Land Rover Defender 110, hot off the production line. “It’s going to be interesting sorting out the adaptation and internal fitting of the new design of vehicle,” says Mike, “but we’re confident that it can be done. As before, we’ll be working with Colin Todd at Lakeland Land Rover in Torver (near Coniston) and are planning to use the new vehicle primarily as a personnel carrier rather than for moving lots of kit. It’ll be with Colin and his team for most of the summer but we’re looking forward to having it out on the fells in the autumn.”
Fundraising for the new Land Rover Patterdale MRT is in the fortunate position of being able to finance this purchase and conversion using existing funds. However, those funds then need to be replenished so the plan is to raise all the money involved in a separate appeal between now and December 2021. Peter Baker, Team member and Trustee, is leading the New Defender Fundraising team: “The total cost of this vehicle, converted and adapted for MR, and ready for the road and the fells, will be about £85,000,” says Peter. “So that’s our target and it gives us a focus for fundraising in the months ahead.” “We’ve got off to a great start with just over £10,000 from a recent legacy, another thousand from generous local supporters and then a further £15,000 to come from the sale of the current Mobile 3 to one of the Dartmoor MR teams but that still leaves nearly £60,000 to raise. That’s going to be a challenge, especially with the impact of COVID-19 on so many businesses and communities, but we believe it’s possible and are confident that our friends and supporters will rise to the challenge too.”
From This To This
Key facts and figures b The first Land Rover vehicle was conceived in 1947 and has been used in mountain rescue ever since.
b The new Land Rover will be available in three sizes,
80, 90 or 110 and the Patterdale MR model will be a 110.
b There are six models – Defender, S, SE, HSE, First
Edition or Defender X. Ours will be a Defender, adapted for an MR role.
b The vehicle’s silhouette is familiar and the vehicle
has short overhangs, great clearance and upright front and rear elevations for off-road driving.
If you would like to support the New Defender Fundraising, please have a look at the project pages on our new website. We’re keen to hear from anyone planning fundraising events of any kind and will promote and publicise as many of these on social media as we can. We will keep in touch about our own fundraising progress and plans in the months to come too.
Impact of COVID-19
Equipment Officer, Glenn Bridge has led the Team’s precautions and preparations and here are just a few of the tasks that have been involved:
k There are now three special
COVID-19 packs, one in each of Mobiles 1, 2 and 3. These go out on every call-out with other team sacs and each pack contains face-masks, goggles, surgical gloves, hand sanitiser, surgical waste bags, disposable overalls, hand wipes, tape for securing gloves and overalls, and three sets of COVID-19 guidelines.
The Team may have been much quieter than normal during lockdown, but it has also had to be ready for action at all times. And we are very aware that things could get much busier as the fells re-open, with COVID-19 still around and still a serious threat.
k A marked cleaning station
for vehicles has been set up with cleaning spray and paper towels. This is used to clean door handles, steering wheel, gear change and any other hard surfaces that are practical to clean. Each vehicle has also been fitted with disposable seat covers to avoid contamination.
k A marked station has been set up for Team members to take off their outer layers after a callout. There is a hand wash station at the sink in the drying room plus a hand sanitising station as members leave the garage to go into the main building.
“A lot of the specialist equipment and things like ropes and harnesses need to be cleaned really carefully so that they’re not damaged,” says Glenn, “so we’ve been in contact with the suppliers and manufacturers to make sure that everything is done properly.” Chris Lewis on the Team also coordinated a collection of spare PPE from all the Lake District teams and this has been stored at our Base ready to be used by NHS workers as needed.
e m o H t a g n Lear ni
As Patrick Relay goes to press, the COVID-19 lockdown still means that many children are learning at home. You may remember that the Team published an Education Pack back in 2016 and those resources are still available online on our website.
There’s information about the Team’s work, equipment and people as well as ideas for activities and questions as starters for discussions and writing. Finally, as we’re all hoping to be back outdoors very soon, there’s a section on staying safe and planning your trips to make them the best days possible. You can find the pack on the Team’s new website – and we’d love to see your pictures or hear your stories if you use these materials at home.
Cumbrian Honour for PMR Association Chairman On August Bank Holiday Monday 2017, the Team was involved in rescuing Paul “Robbo” Robinson after he fell some 650 feet from Striding Edge on Helvellyn. Robbo’s Staffordshire bull terrier, Rossi, was also severely injured in the fall.
Our Chairman, Chris Sanderson, fresh from discovering the joys of fatherhood (young Hugo being born on the 2nd of February), was honoured to be appointed one of Her Majesty’s Deputy Lieutenants for the county early in April.
After a lot of surgery, care and recuperation, both of them have made a fantastic recovery and the story of their rescue was featured in the latest series of Close Calls: On Camera on BBC1 at the end of April.
Deputy Lieutenants act as the Lord-Lieutenant’s ‘eyes and ears’, advising her in particular on community issues and the voluntary sector. Chris responded: “It is an immense privilege to be allowed to assist our Lord-Lieutenant, Claire Hensman, by serving as one of her Deputy Lieutenants and I am very grateful to have the opportunity to do so.”
Christmas Goodies Christmas seems much more than six months away but, back in December, the Team made a collection at its annual dinner and raised over £180 for The Salvation Army food bank in Penrith.
They also visited our Rescue Centre back in October, along with Robbo’s wife, Alex and fellow walkers, Tracy and Andy Jackson. This tied in really well with Alex making a Pride of Britain 2019 nomination that saw the Team shortlisted in the Emergency Services category. It was great to see them all looking so well.
“We did something similar in 2018,” explains Team member, Tony Recchia, “and used the money to buy food and treats. This year, everyone at the dinner unanimously pushed for us to do the same again and we were pleased to meet up with Majors Carole and Alan Donaldson after we’d done the shopping!”
Tony Recchia, Ray Griffiths and Tony Henley of the Team with the Christmas goodies that were donated.
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 Mountain Rescue England and Wales.