Patrick relay winter 2015

Winter 2015

Patrick Relay News from the Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team

Open day proves a busy one A big thank you to everyone who came along to the Open Day at our Rescue Centre in Patterdale in October and especially those who helped out on what developed into a very busy day for the Team.

“We made nearly £320 on the day from the shop, donations and gift-aided money,” says Jacquie Freeborn, Chair of Trustees, “and we even enrolled a new member for the Supporters’ Club.

There’ll be more to add to that total too as the Bryce Street Strummers kept everyone entertained right through the day and then donated their busking money!”

Our Trustees, especially John, Ian and Syd, did a great job of keeping things going “back at base” as Team members were called out in different directions to help casualties on Swirral Edge and Dove Crag while also dealing with an injury to one of our own.

Visitors had a chance to tour the Rescue Centre, visit the Control Room (in action, as it turned out) and see the wide range of kit and equipment that your support enables.

New images for our card collection Gowbarrow by John Williams There are two new additions to our range of fundraising cards, hot off the presses just in time for Christmas 2015 but blank inside so that buyers can add their own greetings and use them at any time of year.

We’re lucky to have several great photographers involved in the Team and two of them, John Williams and Andy McAlea (see www.polarisandy.co.uk), have

Priest’s Hole, Dove Crag by Andy McAlea

contributed images to the card project.

Andy’s is a view of Patterdale’s winter fells from Priest’s Hole on Dove Crag.

“I was out walking on my own,” he says, “and just took three shots using an old Rolleiflex film camera and then melded them together as a panorama.”

John’s image was taken from Gowbarrow at the other end of Ullswater: “This was taken in March from just below the summit

to get a view south along Ullswater towards Place Fell and the fells above Patterdale,” he says. “The soft light came from the overnight mist clearing while Gowbarrow itself had benefited from early sun warming the ground.”

Details of the full selection of cards should be enclosed (or attached) with this issue of Patrick Relay and you can also place orders online at www.mountainrescue.org.uk/cards

Visit the Patterdale Mountain Rescue web site at www. mountainrescue.org.uk for latest call outs

Radio appeal approaches tough total As featured in the Summer issue of Patrick Relay, we’re currently running a special appeal to raise £25,000 to replace the Team’s radio communications system.

“Our current system is nearly 15 years old and technology has moved on a great deal in recent years,” says Eelco Docter

who has been part of the project team planning for the new system. “As well as digital hand-held radios for each Team member, we’ll also need to buy new equipment for the Rescue Centre and for each of our three Team vehicles so the total costs soon mount up.”

“We’ve been looking at different options and researching the experiences of other rescue teams so that we make sure that we get the best value for money. At present, it’s looking as if we’ll be continuing to use a Simoco system in future and we should be buying the hardware and learning how to use it early in 2016.”

The response to the appeal has been really encouraging - almost £18,000 as Relay went to press - with several larger donations as well as lots of support from people online via JustGiving https://www.justgiving.com/ Patterdale-Mountain-Rescue-TeamAppeal.

“Having a focus for fundraising seems to have worked well for us,” said Dave Freeborn who has been working with Eelco on this project. “Donors have been keen to contribute to something so tangible and also so essential to the safe working of the Team.”

Summer visitor support Significant donations from two of our regular local business supporters have made a great contribution to the radios appeal.

Chased by wild animals?

Readers of local newspapers and magazines back in August may have been surprised to see headlines such as “Attack of the Herdies” and even a front page cartoon in the Westmorland Gazette featuring sheep in disguise.

And it all related to an unusual call out for the Team.

Mike Blakey, Team Leader explains: “We were asked to assist two young men who had managed to get themselves benighted not far from their accommodation. They had planned to go on a short walk from the Youth Hostel at Greenside mines and ended up getting lost when it went dark. They then became scared when they were ‘chased by wild animals’.”

The staff at Troutbeck Head Caravan Club site presented the Team with a cheque for over £1100 at the end of October and, in return, they were presented with a Business Supporter shield to mark their support.

The Team quickly located the men and assisted them back to the track and then to their Youth Hostel. They were unhurt.

Earlier in the month, Park Foot Caravan and Camping Park on Ullswater presented a cheque for over £1200 to Team members and even posed with current radios for the press picture.

“It was a bit of bit of a baaaarmy night,” says Mike, “so they weren’t in any danger although they were clearly shaken and very grateful for the Team’s assistance.

Once we arrived, it quickly became apparent that the pair had been chased by a couple of Herdwicks.

Get me to the Inn on time

“I will be getting married to Keith Howell at St Patrick’s Church in Patterdale in September 2015 and we’re planning to donate our wedding

money to the Team.

We wondered whether you would be able to transport us from the Church to the Inn on the Lake after our marriage service, ideally in one of the Team Land Rovers?”

Given that the couple are regular walkers in and around Patterdale and Keith had proposed to Cathy on Dove Crag,

The men, from Bracknell in the South of England, probably didn’t realise that there weren’t street lights everywhere and dark really is dark in the Lake District - they should have had torches with them even for a short walk.”

Commenting on the media coverage, Mike says: “I’m not sure whether it was the tongue in cheek baaaarmy comment in our press report at the time or a local perspective on “wild” sheep but the story was all over our local media and Colin Shelbourn’s cartoon for the Westmorland Gazette was great. Colin’s a regular supporter of mountain rescue in Cumbria and his images, books and cards are for sale online – although I don’t think the “wild Herdwick” cartoon has made it on to merchandise so far!”

© Colin Shelbourn www.shelbourn.com

Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far and especially our neighbours and regular donors in and around Patterdale.

Over a year ago, Cathy Shutt, a junior doctor living in Leeds, approached the Team with an unusual request:

PATRICK RELAY l Winter 2015

how could we refuse? So, on 26 September, Matt Cox dressed up a vehicle with ribbons and created an unusual twist to a very special day for the new Mr and Mrs Howell.

Congratulations to them both on their marriage and thank you to them and to their friends and family for their donations of over £500 so far.

Visit the Patterdale Mountain Rescue web site at www. mountainrescue.org.uk for latest call out information and Team news

PATRICK RELAY l Winter 2015

Introducing Nigel Harling

On top of the world Two recent walks have together raised impressive funds for the Team.

One route will be familiar to many of our supporters but one is a little more unusual.

Adam Cowles has been one of the leaders on fundraising for the Team and the North West Air Ambulance in memory of Robert Pascoe, who died on Striding Edge in October 2013. In total, Robert’s friends and family have raised over £12,000 for the two charities and they try to climb Helvellyn each year too. This July, over 50 people set off from Glenridding and climbed Helvellyn, raising over £100 on the day with Team donation buckets and enjoying a barbecue at the Helvellyn Country Kitchen at the Helvellyn Country Kitchen at the end of their day.

The second walk was further afield and definitely unusual but Emma Hill and Lisa Sewell tell the story: “Our Mum, Morag, passed away in April 1995 doing one of her favourite things with some of her favourite people. The Team members have given our family so much comfort over the years and we’ve been raising funds in Mum’s memory and to thank them.

We decided to walk over

Helvellyn by John Williams

the O2 Arena (or Millennium Dome) and completed a very windy walk with spectacular views of London, raising £1300 for the Patterdale Team.”

If you complete an unusual challenge in aid of the Team or have ideas for fundraising, please get in touch via our website or Facebook Page or Twitter feed.

Patterdale MR Association Trustee, Nigel Harling (who is also an active member of the Team and a local Police Officer) has taken over as Secretary of the Supporters’ Club.

Nigel will be the one keeping in touch with existing supporters, encouraging new members and dealing with our Honorary Treasurer, Joan Watson, on the delights of our database of supporters.

“I’ve been a member of Patterdale MRT since 1997” says Nigel, “and have always appreciated the commitment of so many of our supporters and fundraisers, enabling us to get on with the job on the hills. I’m looking forward to getting to know some of our established donors and also building up the membership in the coming months and years. I hope that members reading this will keep in touch via the Team website and contact form if they have any ideas or comments.”

Front (L-R) Emma Hill, Lisa Sewell Back (L-R) James Hill, Geoff Allen on their walk over the 02 Arena

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.