Supporting The Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team.
Thanks North East Connected for publishing an article on us and the Dark Skies Marathon at Kielder Water & Forest Park.
Thanks to the Trail Outlaws for organizing the event and the 300 runners for running it; you have donated £1,400 towards the work of the Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team between you – it will be put to good use.
Sunday 1 May, 20.31hrs
Yesterday evening North of Tyne MRT and ourselves were contacted by Northumbria Police regarding a cyclist who was lost in the Kielder area. Indications were that the cyclist was near to Riccarton.
We tried SARLOC, a text message system used to locate missing persons, whilst the Police drove some of the roads and other resources were being mobilised. Border Search & Rescue Unit and Tweed Valley MRT were made aware of the incident in case additional support was required.
Unfortunately due to the poor mobile coverage SARLOC didn’t work. After half an hour though contact was made with the cyclist again and he confirmed he was on the road near Riccarton. A Police vehicle located the cyclist and transported him back to his start point at Kielder Water. All ended well.
The incident involved 2 Team members for 1 hour.
Wednesday 27 April, 20.26hrs
Yesterday evening Northumbria Police requested the Team’s assistance to locate a group of partially sighted walkers overdue in the Harthope valley near Wooler. A total of 19 walkers including their sighted guides were well over four hours late for their transport back to Wooler. They had set out to climb The Cheviot and return to the valley over Cairn Hill and Scotsman Knowe.
Given the wintery conditions on the hills, members from our Team and North of Tyne MRT were activated immediately. An advanced party, including two of our Incident Controllers, were on scene very quickly whilst the Team Landrovers and other members travelled to Langleeford farm.
On arrival at the farm, one of our Incident Controllers ascertained that all the walkers had managed to find their way safely off the hill. Other than being very tired from their long day, all the walkers were well.
A good outcome for all concerned. We hope they enjoyed their well deserved meal in the Red Lion!
A total of 21 Team members were involved for 1.5 hours.
Monday 25 April, 11.12hrs
The Team was called out by Northumbria Police today to assist in the search for a 46 year old Washington man. Alongside North of Tyne MRT, members were deployed in small search groups along the Coast to Coast cycle path and into the Princess Anne Park. A water search group was also deployed along the banks of the River Wear.
The Team’s were stood down when the man was reported to have been located outside of the search areas.
A total of 18 Team members were involved 6 hrs 50 minutes.
With only a few months to go in our 50th year we are well on our way to reaching our £50k fundraising target. To date you have helped raised just over £41k. These funds are being put to use… they are helping us to convert a trailer into a mobile control unit and store for our water kit, and to replace the laptops used by our controllers.
We are now seeking to raise funds to equip each of our 40 Team members with a high visibility rucksack cover. These are essential when working in more urban environments and at night to ensure our members are easily seen.
Each cover costs £20 and remember every little helps. DONATE HERE!
https://www.justgiving.com/nnpmrt
Please share this post with your friends to help raise awareness of what we do.
Fancy joining us for the 35th Cheviots Challenge? Sign-up on Facebook and let your friends know you’re coming.
You can enter the event online via https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?elid=Y&event_id=2562
This event is designed as a personal challenge that is accessible to all. We’ll be in strategic places along the routes, to provide encouragement and light refreshments, and so that if it becomes ‘too much of a challenge’, a Land Rover back to the village is possible. It’s a great opportunity to get high into the hills of the Northumberland National Park, have a great time with friends, and possibly make some new friends along the way.
There is a choice of two routes:
– Terry Lynn long route is about 23 miles and over 4000 feet of climbing
– Eileen Lynn short route is about 18 miles and over 3000 feet of climbing
Thursday 4 April 2016, 13.50hrs
The Team was requested earlier today by the North East Ambulance Service to assist with the evacuation of a female suffering a seizure near to St Cuthbert’s Cave in North Northumberland. The Ambulance Paramedics were unable to access the site by vehicle and requested our support to stretcher the casualty off the hill.
We along with North of Tyne MRT responded with one vehicle. We also requested support from the Border Search & Rescue Unit given the incident was in the northern part of our operational area.
Whilst en-route we were stood down as the Great North Air Ambulance was able to land on near to the casualty.
A total of 7 members were involved for 40 minutes.
Tuesday 12 April, 17.40hrs
After the busy start to the year, we have had a quiet period for incidents. This ended yesterday when the North East Ambulance Service requested our assistance to recover a body from a difficult to access location in the Derwent Valley. Along with North of Tyne MRT, the Ambulance Service and Tyne & Wear Fire & Rescue Service, we dealt with the unfortunate incident.
A total of 13 Team members were involved for 3 hours.
Even when we are quiet as a team the work goes on. The vehicles and their equipment need regular checks, maintenance and repairs. Today we had a winch failure to sort. A full strip and rebuild got things going again. Volunteers working behind the scenes to ensure the team keeps rolling, and are ready when needed!
A gruelling week of training and assessment has paid off for one of our Team members. And that’s not to mention all of the hours of training he put in beforehand too.
Many congratulations to Allan White who has re-qualified as a MREW Advanced Casualty Carer. The qualification enables Allan to provide a high level of pre-hospital emergency medical care in often remote locations and in adverse conditions. Well done!
