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Diary - February 2010
Monday 8th February Recent surge in the number of website visits As a result of the extra publicity and visibility of the team during the recent snow and winter conditions, the team's website has taken a bit of a hammering, from readers new and old.
An average day in 2009 saw around 115 visits to our website, with the busiest ever recorded day being 28th January 2008, in relation to incident 20/2008 - a total of 242 visits.
The snowfall (and subsequent the large number of incidents) between the 18th-26th December 2009 meant that on 23rd December the website's "busiest day" record was broken, with a tally of 263 visits in this 24 hour period.
The records continued to fall in the New Year, following the second major snowfall, with 293 visits on the 5th January 2010, a fantastic 335 visits on the 6th (a new record for the team), 284 on the 7th and 259 on the 8th January 2010.
So as well as being the busiest ever time for the team and its members, this period marked the busiest ever time for the team's website too!
None of this would be possible without the support of the team members who give their time to either write articles or supply photos for the website.... not to forget the behind-the-scenes staff who do the technical wizardry to bring everything together.
Of course we must also place on record our continuing thanks to our internet service provider, Netnorth Ltd (based in Bolton), who have graciously supported the team since October 2001 by hosting the team's domain name, website and email accounts.
We hope that every new visitor to our website will find out all about us, and that the returning visitors continue to keep up-to-date with the team's many activities!
Sunday 7th February Very kind donation from Mrs Irene Jackson on behalf of her badminton club. Today we received a very kind £60.00 donation from Mrs Irene Jackson of Bolton, on behalf of her Badminton Club, who decided to raise money for the team in lieu of sending Christmas Cards.
The whole team is very grateful to Irene and her badminton friends for supporting the team in this very kind way.
Irene recently personally contributed to the team via the Mrs Julie Steele 60th Birthday donation, see 'news' article dated Thursday 28th January 2010
Thursday 4th February Upcoming Charity fundraiser in aid of Bolton MRT Valued team friends Gerald and Barbara Howell, and John and Anna Honywill, are running a "Western Spirit Charity Night" in aid of Bolton MRT on Saturday March 6th 2010, at Rumworth Hall, St. Helens Road, Bolton.
A great many fun activities are planned including Stand Up Bingo, Raffles, Tombola, a Whisky Roll and they have their very own "DJ Ghostrider" in residence!
Admission is £4 for adults, under 16's £1. Doors open at 7pm.
Callouts permitting, representatives from the team will attend on the night!
For more information, contact the organisers on 01204 697401 / 691930.
...also on Thursday 4th... Very kind donation from Bolton CHA Rambling Club. Today we are pleased to announce the receipt of a wonderful £200.00 donation from our friends and supporters at Bolton CHA Rambling Club.
The Treasurer of Bolton CHA Rambling Club, Mr Kirane, in a letter to our Team Leader Garry Rhodes, which accompanied this generous donation explained;
"The past few weeks have been very busy for the emergency services due to the severe weather conditions. I know you and your team have assisted with numerous rescues during this time."
" With this in mind the Bolton CHA Rambling Club would like to make a donation of £200.00 in recognition of this work."
The entire team membership extends its grateful thanks to all the members of Bolton CHA Rambling Club who kindly contributed to this very thoughtful and supportive donation.
Wednesday 3rd February Incident 43/2010 Whilst the team was still on "snow" standby for NWAS at our Ladybridge Hall base, our Team Leader was contacted at 21:41 direct by NWAS (Manchester) Control for the team to respond to a residential address in the Great Lever area, with the report of a woman who required treatment. Resources from Greater Manchester Police were already on scene.
Our BM1 Landrover mountain rescue ambulance responded with an appropriately trained crew on board, arriving on scene to meet the GMP officers and the casualty. Our team members treated the patient and subsequently transported her to Royal Bolton Hospital in our Landrover ambulance.
...also on Wednesday 3rd... Team membership latest Another weekly update on who remains from our probationers taken on, on Sunday 24th January.
The latest figure is that the 11 of last week has now become 10, with their training continuing this evening, complimented by an outdoor exercise on Sunday 7th February.
...also on Wednesday 3rd... Team Eagley Bank Fundraisers choose team as charity of the year Today we are pleased to announce that Team Eagley Bank Fundraisers have kindly decided to choose our team as their charity of the year.
Team Eagley Bank is a fundraising group made up of neighbours who every year choose a different charity and then throughout the year fundraise for their chosen charity.
Last year, the group raised £1,911.00 for Winterwatch, and in a total surprise for the team, Maureen Heggie of Team Eagley Bank recently contacted our Team Leader by email to announce that we are their charity for 2010.
The team will be travelling to the group's first fundrasing event of the year, a quiz night at the home of Maureen Heggie, on Thursday evening the 25th February 2010.
The team wishes to extend its thanks to Maureen and all members of Team Eagley Bank for their kind support of the Bolton MRT.
...also on Wednesday 3rd... Incident 42/2010 With snowfall in the area creating some difficulty for responding ambulances, our Team Leader was contacted at 19:52 direct by NWAS (Manchester) Control for the team to respond to a residential address in the Hall'i'th'Wood area, with the report a woman requiring emergency treatment.
Our BM1 Landrover mountain rescue ambulance responded with an appropriately trained crew on board, arriving on scene to meet an NWAS (Manchester) RRV Paramedic, our vehicle subsequently transported this casualty to Royal Bolton Hospital.
...also on Wednesday 3rd... Team on standby for NWAS (Manchester) With continuing snowfalls throughout Greater Manchester this afternoon and into the early evening, our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE was contacted by NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Control Centre to place the team on standby for snow-related incidents.
Barely had Garry discussed this with our Deputy Leader Geoff Seddon, when we received a call from NWAS (Lancashire) to extricate an RRV vehicle which was stuck on snow in Darwen (and as is the way with these things, we were immediately stood down).
Coincidentally our Team Leader at this same time was in contact on another phone with Cornwall Search & Rescue Team discussing how the Bolton team is integrated with NWAS Manchester and Lancashire, what better way to show the integration than a callout in the middle of a phonecall!
...also on Wednesday 3rd... Thanks to Panorama Antennas Its nice to report when the business world helps the Team out and here is one such example.
Over the years Panorama Antennas have supported the Bolton MRT by providing a generous discount on the purchase of antennas for our radio handsets, vehicles & base installations.
Our Radio Communications Officer, Dave Healey, had recent cause to call on the services of Panorama Antenna with a tricky antenna request. Stuart Gray, General Manager, quickly suggested a suitable antenna for the job in hand and even allowed the Team discount to be applied, despite it being a special request and a special one-off antenna.
From all of us at Bolton MRT & those other Teams which use Panorama Antennas, can we express our sincere thanks to all at Panorama Antennas and in particular Stuart, for their continuing support of UK Mountain Rescue.
...also on Wednesday 3rd... Thanks to Lyreco As many team members already know, the team uses a large amount of paper as part of its back-office administrative work.
This paper has been supplied to the team for many years by Lyreco, who continue support us by way of a fantastic discount on the paper and stationery that we order from them, and they also always deliver orders to us the very next day after we've placed such.
So it's a big thanks to Lyreco, and especially to our account manager, Jeanne!
...also on Wednesday 3rd... Bolton HF Walking Group yet again support the taem It was only back on the 22nd December 2009 that we reported on our website the kind donation of £135.00 from our friends and valued supported at Bolton HF Walking Group.
This morning we received another kind donation from Bolton HF Walking Group of £31.00, this time as a result of a recent raffle by members of the group.
In little over a month, yet again we are expressing our sincere thanks via this website for the very kind support of Bolton HF Walking Group.
...also on Wednesday 3rd... Greater Manchester Police donate to the team a Ford Transit minibus As an update to our previous story (see news item dated Wednesday 27th January 2010), this morning Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon and our Vehicles Equipment Officer Chris Greenhalgh journeyed to the Greater Manchester Police Claytonbrook complex to collect our latest team vehicle.
This is a second-hand Ford Transit 15 seater minibus that has been in use by Greater Manchester Police principally for staff transport duties (it is not a liveried police vehicle).
This has been donated completely free of charge by Greater Manchester Police as a gesture of support to Bolton Mountain Rescue Team, and as thanks for all the assitance that we give to GMP. (An identical vehicle has also been donated to Oldham MRT in late January, with a Control unit style vehicle also having been donated to Rossendale & Pendle MRT in early Autumn last year, again both were donated by GMP as a gesture of support to MRTs operating in Greater Manchester).
This latest acquisition to our vehicle fleet was delivered immediately into the tender care of Frank Hulton at Frank Hulton Motor Engineers Ltd, Farnworth, who looks after all the maintenance, servicing and outfitting of our team vehicles.
Frank has already started on signwrighting decals for the vehicle and the removal of a row of seats to create a small cargo area.
We are hoping to have this minibus commissioned into the team and fully operational by Friday 12th February 2010.
The team's thanks are expressed to all our friends at Greater Manchester Police for this fantastic donation.
Keep watching the website for news of this vehicle entering team service.
...also on Wednesday 3rd... A big thank you from Lindsay and David Fane, and of course baby Leah Jasmine Fane Steven Fletcher, Stephen Kenworthy and Elaine Gilliland were the first emergency service on scene at 04:21 AM on New Year's Day, when the team was called to a woman in labour.
Arriving on scene our three team members were faced with a baby girl who had been born (officially!) at 04:17 and went on to comfort mum, dad and the baby up to the arrival of the midwives, and then all were transported to Royal Bolton Hospital in a team Landrover.
Today our Team Leader received a very kind card of thanks from the mum and dad involved, Lindsay and David Fane, and a beautiful picture of baby Leah Jasmine Fane, the first Bolton baby of the decade, at a healthy 7lb 11oz.
In their card, David and Lindsay commented, "we wish to thank you for your help and support after the birth of Leah. You were all very helpful, especially Elaine who checked Leah and Lindsay, and Stephen who I took to the hospital as he would not fit in the Mountain Rescue Landrover. Thank you so much."
(Our Landrover at the time was full with new mother Lindsay, baby Leah, a midwive, and team members Elaine Gilliland and Steven Fletcher)
The team wishes the whole Fane family all the best for a happy and healthy 2010. (please also see article dated Wednesday 13th January)
Monday 1st February Kind donations to the memory of Anne Colette Bury Today we received a very kind letter from Joe Bury of Chorley, Lancashire, sadly informing us that his wife Anne Colette Bury had died on the morning Christmas Eve 2009.
A number of donations were made in the memory of Anne Colette, not only to the Bolton Mountain Rescue Team, but also to Derian House Children's Hospice and the Friends of Uganda Group at St. Mary's Church, Chorley.
In total, donations of £90.00 were made in the memory of Anne Colette to the team.
In October 2006 (incident 124/2006), we were called to the house of Joe and his wife Anne Colette, to render the team's assistance to NWAS (Lancashire) who were treating John Paul Joyce, the son of Anne and stepson of Joe.
Sadly, John Paul Joyce died in 2008, with a collection being made in his memory to the team.
The team's condolences are expressed to Joe Bury over the loss of wife Anne Colette, sadly so close to the loss of his stepson John Paul Joyce.
(See also news articles dated 5th April 2008, 17th July 2007, and 8th October 2006).
Diary - January 2010
Sunday 31st January Collection Box monthly report Well the first month of 2010 has passed us by and yet again we are happy to report the continuing success of our Collection Box fundraising.
To date (January end) our collection box total stands at £510.67p, which is all thanks to our fantastic supporters out there who continue to donate to the team, and of course continuing thanks to all who hold a Collection Box on our behalf.
Saturday 30th January Possible search deployment This evening a Greater Manchester Police Search Manager, contacted our Team Leader direct for possible assistance in a missing from home search, in the Wythenshawe area of South Manchester.
As our Team Leader was on holiday at the time, the call was redirected by him to our Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon,
Police enquiries were continuing with the team being considered for a search commencing tomorrow morning, Sunday 31st January.
(post script: on Sunday morning 31st January, continuing police enquiries led to the decision not to undertake a search involving our team's resources)
...also on Saturday 30th... Exercise with Casualty Union at City Airport Manchester On Sunday 20th September 2009 (see news article dated the same), a small party from the team visited City Airport Manchester, primarily with regards to light aircraft crash rescue incidents.
Since this date, our Team Leader was approached by Nick Duriez, Operations Manager, at City Airport Manchester, with a view to an exercise being held at the airport.
After many emails confirming this exercise, this afternoon team members journeyed to City Airport Manchester (formerly Barton Airport) to take part in a major exercise with the Casualty Union and the Airport Fire and Rescue Service.
There follows below an account of our participation by team member Mark Scott.
Today nine callout team members led by Deputy Leader Geoff Seddon headed off in all four team landrovers and with the team’s control trailer in tow to City Airport Manchester (formerly Barton Airport) for a very special exercise indeed. At the airport, members of the Casualties Union were getting ready to give the team a real challenge. The Casualties Union specialise in using makeup techniques to create realistic-looking casualties for medical training purposes. This weekend was a training event for their members and we were to be a key part of that training. The idea was that we would deal with a large number of exercise casualties with a wide range of simulated injuries in all sorts of awkward places. The convoy of team vehicles turned up at the airport security gates and then the seemingly inevitable happened – the pagers went off, and soon the team were headed on blues and twos all the way back to Wilton Quarries off Scout Road, North of Bolton, where a rock climber had taken a very bad fall (see today’s incident report for the full story).
Once the fallen rock climber had been brought down from the quarry by the team and handed over to the NWAS ambulance waiting on Scout Road a quick phone call confirmed there was still time for us to head back to the airport to treat and rescue simulated casualties who were patiently waiting. Very soon team members were working in threes identifying the many exercise casualties and determining who were the priorities for treatment. With so many make believe casualties, we were grateful for the support of the Airport Fire and Rescue Service who joined in to help with extractions. One exercise casualty, an unconscious female, who we later learned was called Vicky, pretended to have sustained serious injuries as a result of a fall from height – ironically very similar to the case of the fallen climber the team had just been involved with for real!
It was hectic, challenging and exhilarating. What a fantastic training opportunity. We are so grateful to our friends in the Casualties Union for offering us this unique opportunity, and also to the City Airport staff for hosting the event and making us so welcome.
We look forward to working with the Casualties Union again soon, they are a great group of people with a remarkable and valuable set of skills. Talk about accident-prone!
The team wishes to express its thanks to Nick Duriez, Operations Manager for the airport, members of the Airport Fire and Rescue Service, and the Casualties Union (Manchester, Merseyside, Isle of Man, Lancashire, South Cumbria and Cheshire).
...also on Saturday 30th... Incident 41/2010 At 14:23 this afternoon the Team was paged and also contacted direct by NWAS Manchester requesting assistance to a fallen climber in Wilton number 3 quarry, North of Bolton.
The pager call was answered by Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon, whilst in transit to the exercise at City Airport Manchester (see above). A quick initial response was made by the team members who were assembling at the airport to commence an exercise, whilst other team members not involved in the exercise responded direct to the Scout Road, Wilton number 3 quarry incident location.
Team members Chris Greenhalgh and Mike Marsh (who had been alerted by our Team Leader) arrived at the roadside RVP at 14:42 and met up with two responding NWAS (Manchester) Ambulance crews from Bolton North station.
A climber, in a group of climbers from the Oldham area, had fallen about 6m and had suspected back injuries and fractured lower left leg.
On scene at the time of the accident was former team member Blake Jackson, who was also out climbing in the same quarry. Blake provided initial casualty care and assisted the responding team members when they arrived. (Team members responding from the exercise at Barton started arriving in team vehicles 14:55.)
The male casualty was placed onto an NWAS long board and then onto our Bell Mountain Rescue stretcher, for evacuation back to the waiting Emergency Ambulance which was parked at the roadside entrance to the quarry.
The incident was concluded by 15:11, with 18 team members attending (3 members were stood down responding on route.)
A small group of team members then journeyed to Royal Bolton Hospital to collect equipment used on the rescue, whilst the rest of their colleagues journeyed back to City Airport Manchester to continue the excercise being held there.
Thursday 28th January 60th Birthday present from Mrs Julie Steele of Heaton, Bolton Readers of our website may recall that on Tuesday 19th January 2010, we reported that a local Bolton lady in lieu of presents on her 60th Birthday very kindly requested that donations be made instead to the Bolton Mountain Rescue Team.
Today we are very pleased to have received a letter from Mrs Julie Steele the woman involved, enclosing a number of fantastic donations totalling a marvellous £385.00. (With obvious thanks to the very kind supportive generosity of her family, friends and colleagues in making such donations).
In her letter Julie kindly remarks, "I admire your dedication + bravery + as outdoor people, appreciate the wonderful work you do although I hope I'll never have to call upon you!"
She went on to further kindly state, "I hope these donations will help swell the funds after a very busy winter for you so far, we all appreciate you."
Many of the donations have been gift aided increasing the total doantion even further.
So Julie Happy 60th Birthday (even though its over a week late for us in saying it) and a huge thanks for kindly supporting us in this thoughtful way.
...also on Thursday 28th... Support Group meeting tonight welcomes a new member This years round of meetings for our Support Group started off this evening with one new member, so it's a big welcome to the team to Caroline Mitchell.
Over the weekend of 13th / 14th February 2010 our Support Group will be in big demand by the team helping out on the Saturday with an all day Collection Event at ASDA, Moss Bank Way, Bolton, whilst on the Sunday they will be providing full catering support to our members providing Standby Rescue Cover for this years gruelling Winter Hill Fell Race.
Wednesday 27th January Bolton Mobile 5 awaits our collection Today we received the fantastic news that in a very supportive gesture we have been aware of for a few months now, Greater Manchester Police confirmed that a twelve seater minibus they are donating to us is now available for our collection.
The vehicle is a former GMP staff transport vehicle and is in an overall excellent condition, with a similar vehicle also being donated to our colleagues at Oldham MRT at the same time.
This vehicle will fulfill a need within the team for a minibus and will bring the total number of vehicles we operate to 5x plus of course our Control Trailer, Catering Trailer and General Purpose cargo Trailer.
Keep watching our website for news of when we collect this fantastic donation and for when we bring it into team full operational service. (very soon we hope)
...also on Wednesday 27th... New Team members commence their Probationary Membership training tonight This evening the twelve persons invited to join the team from Sundays membership session had reduced to eleven, with all 11x arriving at our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ for a 7pm start on the first of their eight Probationary Training period weekly sessions.
Tonight it was the contents of our Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulances, and how to use the vehicles NWAS (Manchester) datalink system, followed by a thorough practical session looking at all the various types of stretcher in use by the team.
Thanks to Team members Fred Taylor, Craig Lamb, Mike Marsh and Mark Parry for helping in this task tonight and for passing on their knowledge to our brand new members.
For the eleven present this evening also included a ten minute each interview with long serving and very experienced Team member Mike Marsh, who talked through each Probationers' comprehensive membership application form, primarily picking up on areas where the eleven need to improve their experience.
...also on Wednesday 27th... Team donates equipment to Rossendale and Pendle MRT, other kit remains on loan to Oldham MRT This evening the team donated some surplus scoop stretchers, a back splint and a small number of kit bags to our colleagues at Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue Team.
Meanwhile our friends in the Oldham Mountain Rescue Team continue to benefit from our loan to them of two Blue light with integral siren, roof mounted 'pods,' which we loaned to Oldham MRT during the recent spell of wintry weather.
Monday 25th January Thanks to Carl Silver Many kind thanks to Carl Silver, a freelance photographer, who frequently attends team activities including some incidents to photograph proceedings.
Carl has recently donated a large number of colour photographs which have been used to help in the now finished project to completely update and revise our Team Exhibition Panels. (Which will be accompanying the team on its many displays and collection days throughout this coming year).
Carls' photographs along with others taken by team members (including Chris Tennant, Ged Clarke and Fred Taylor amongst others) can often be seen alongside the text articles on our website.
Thanks Carl for your continuing and valued support of the team.
Sunday 24th January January new recruitment intake. Report on todays all day session Well by the mysteries of self selection, the 21x who attended on Thursday night became 12x eager faces by Sunday morning, despite the torrential rain and low cloud enveloping the local moorlands.
Team members Gillian Leigh, Chris Tennant and Craig Lamb outlined to the interested group what equipment is issued to team members and perhaps more importantly what equipment is not issued to team members. (trousers eh Craig)
Down to our vehicle garage and the intricacies of putting together, lifting and carrying our Bell and Troll Alphin MR stretchers were explained to all in preparartion for the outdoor exercises coming later.
Then it was off to the local moorlands and all 12x were left at Hordern Stoops with a number of map references to go to, 25 minutes to get to Point 4 and nothing but swirling mist and sleet to greet them!
Somehow! (as if we ever doubted it!) all twelve reappeared at the moorland car park overlooking Wards Reservoir at Belmont, having realised that the navigation course they had all been sent on 'somehow' managed to include few paths, featureless moorland, deep peat pools and snow drifts. (Not a bad introduction to our team area)
A quick rescue exercise was then staged with all present learning very quickly how hard it is to carry a fully loaded MR stretcher on steep ground.
With little time lunch, in light rain and the odd bit of sleet all present, including the team members attending then carried out an exercise rescue in the confines of Great Gutter waterfall, Wards Reservoir, followed by in the words of the 12x; "some of the boggiest terrain we've ever seen!" as the loaded stretcher was carried back to the car park area.
Late afternoon saw the final exercise of the day, staged in Anglezarke Quarry and involving some basic ropework and very steep ground stretcher handling. (mixed in of course with more rain, more mud and just for fun, bramble bushes and thorns in abundance)
The wet but somehow still smiling 12x then returned to Ladybridge Hall, for hot drinks and a debrief on the days proceedings.
Their immediate feedback was overwhelmingly "What a fantastic day," and "Thanks to all the team members for such a enjoyable and fun day."
Meanwhile all the team members had gathered to chat about the 12x and have a look over their application forms.
The concensus opinion of all the team members who had attended today (with some having been around on Thursday night as well) was to invite all 12x to our scheduled eight week long Probationary Training period, and then review again how the twelve were bearing up.
So our Team Leader informed all that they had got their feet on the first rung of the ladder to joining the team, to be met by a (nice) sea of smiling faces, most of whom were expecting us to limit our intake to perhaps taking on 5 or 6 new members.
A big thanks to the twenty two team call out list members who supported today, giving up their time to welcome 12x people all extremely keen to join the team.
As Probationary Team members we welcome the following people into the team;
John Fletcher, aged 21, an Electrician from Chorley,
Steven O'Hara a 43 year old Community Support Team Leader from Farnworth,
Heather Jackson from Kearsley a 37 year old Community Staff Nurse,
Dean Mellor aged 38, a Managing Director from Darcy Lever,
Nick Berry, aged 35 from Wigan involved in Internet Gaming,
Polish husband and wife Marcin and...
Hanna Zadlo, aged 29 and 25, both from Chorley and both Health Care Assistants,
Helen Rigby an ICT Lecturer from Horwich, aged 42,
Anthony Fielding a 24 year old Software Engineer from Flixton,
Peter Sanderson an Operations Manager aged 29 from Heapey,
Mark Ainsworth, aged 51, self employed from Worsley and finally
Martin Banks aged 37, a HR Manager from Horwich.
All will commence their Probationary Training with the first session starting at our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ on Wednesday 27th January 2010.
Please view our guestbook area for some kind comments made about today by some of the people present.
...also on Sunday 24th... Very kind donation from valued team friend Sheila Morris Yet again it gives us great pleasure to welcome another kind and thoughtful supportive donation from team friend Sheila Morris.
Sheila is a former walking colleague of retired team member Andrew Ryding, and first found out about the team when they were both members of Charnock Richard Rambling Club.
The whole team membership thanks Sheila of Standish, Wigan for her generous £50.00 donation, with Andrew Ryding having accepted such with thanks on behalf of the team.
...also on Sunday 24th... More donations to the team in celebration of Mark and Megan Scotts Silver Wedding Anniversary Further to our 'news' article dated Wednesday 13th January 2010, we are pleased to report further donations to the team in lieu of presents, to celebrate the 25th Wedding anniversary of Team member Mark Scott and his wife Megan Scott.
A £15.00 donation has been received from Ms Pam Snowball, plus a kind £10.00 from Mrs Margaret Jackson, making in total to date donations to the value of £145.00 to the team.
In addition to this we are very happy to report that a great many of the people who have made donations with regards to Mark and Megans anniversary have also agreed to Gift Aid their donations, so the money raised will increase even more.
Saturday 23rd January 2nd Group takes part in RAF SAR Sea King helicopter familiarisation training at RAF Valley Readers of our website may recall that on Saturday 17th October 2009, a group of team members journeyed to RAF Valley to undertake Sea King rescue helicopter familiarisation training. (See account dated the same)
The second group was scheduled to go on 14th November, but gales and heavy rain led to cancellation.
Kindly 'C' Flight, 22 Squadron RAF Valley, offered up today as a replacement date, so at the early time of 07.00hrs 17x Team members and Trainee MR Trail Dog 'Boris,' all assembled at our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ to journey down to RAF Valley on Anglesey with fingers crossed (and paws in the case of Boris) that they would be as lucky as our first group and all get winched in and out and all get a flight.
The nearer they got to Anglesey the worse the rain, visibility and low cloud became, crossing Brittania Bridge saw no let up in the heavy rain and mist, and then suddenly clear skies greeted the Bolton MRT vehicle 'convoy,' and their luck was in.
Security formalities over with our members were escorted across the normally very busy RAF Valley airfield to the SAR Force dispersal area, co-located with the RAF Valley MRT Base / HQ and HQ Flight RAF Mountain Rescue Service.
Here our members were met by the on duty staff of 'C' Flight, 22 Squadron Royal Air Force (Helicopter Search and Rescue), themselves co-located with the Sea King Helicopter Operational Conversion Unit.
Flt Lt Giles Ratcliffe presented an overview of the current RAF SAR helicopter force, and then outlined aircraft safety points when working with the Sea King HAR MK3, Master Aircrewman Rich Taylor then covered winching techniques warning all present of such niceities as "the winch hook is designed to always hit you when you are not looking," and "beware of the static discharge cable, let that touch the ground first!"
Then it was out on to the aircraft apron and grouped into three parties all watched as aircraft Sea King HAR Mk3 XZ587 took to the air and then came to the hover, and off our members trooped to be winched into the aircraft via double strop lifts, a quick flight around the airfield and then winched out again.
All 17x of our members were winched in and out, and enjoyed a flight, all in the company of two Paramedics from the Welsh Ambulance Service, (Dolgellau Ambulance Station), who were present for the same training as our team members.
Even our Trainee MR Trail Dog Boris got winched in and a flight around the airfield, although a slight problem with his winch harness meant the helicopter landed to let him and his handler Steve Nelson disembark.
Both our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE and Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon attended, and like the Royal Family! they flew on seperate flights........just in case!
All to soon the day was over and 17x Team members plus Boris headed back to Bolton, newly 'certified' to fly and be winched on Sea King helicopters.
The team would like to thank Flt Lt Giles Ratcliffe for arranging this valuable and necessary training, and for safely piloting our members on the day, alongside the other Flight Crew involved ; Flt Lt Dan Loxton, Flt Sgt Nick Swannick (Radar Operator / Winch Operator) and Master Aircrewman Rich Taylor (Winchman/Paramedic)
(Finally 41 years MR service and founder team member Alan 'General' James (also a Team Vice President) who attended today, found out that the venerable Wessex and Whirlwinds he was so familiar with had actually been replaced many years ago by the Sea King.........only joking Al!)
Claire Whitney and Jude Waltho enjoying their helicopter "experience"
Thursday 21st January January new recruitment intake, report on tonights first session Since advertising for new call out list members it's true to say we were overwhelmed with potential membership enquiries, some less serious than others but overall resulting in 48x people expressing an initial interest in joining the team.
Some 40x of these people went on to apply on line via our website, all received more information on joining the team including an invite to our two part recruitment sessions this evening and all day Sunday 24th January 2010.
24x persons confirmed their attendance at tonights first session of two parts, with 21x actually turning up. (48x becomes 40x which becomes 24x which becomes 21x, a pattern is developing here!)
All twenty one arrived for the 18.30hrs start to an intensive evening at our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ, where through powerpoint, DVD and 'old fashioned MK 1 voice,' they were treated to a number of presentations all with the intention of getting over the message about what being a team member of Bolton MRT entails, alongside of course what Bolton MRT is all about!
A full buffet provided by Support Group husband and wife members Howard and Teresa Gilliland greeted all, including the eleven Team Call Out list members present in direct support of the evening.
Our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE opened proceedings with an excellent DVD introduction, following which all the interested persons present undertook a 30 minute writen navigation (compass and map) test.
(Lets just say the 14 year old - average age - Scouts we trialled it on fared better than the 21x present, maybe nobody uses map and compass anymore!)
One of the candidates tackling the gruelling test...
Sessions included what our membership requirements are about, the work of the team, what is the cost of team membership (not just financial, but to your family life, etc) what our expectations are and how the teams Training and Events Programme works.
All present were issued with a comprehensive information folder on all the topics covered along with general information on the team, they also all received a complimentary copy of the Mountain Rescue England and Wales magazine 'mountain rescue.'
The last sessions were presented by Team Call Out list members Elaine Gilliland and Andy Kench, with Elaine giving her perspective on her last 23 months in the team, and Andy giving his perspective on balancing team membership alongside his job as an RSPCA Inspector (and member of their Flood Response Team) and as a family man.
Elaine Gilliland and Andy Kench showing Garry how presentations should be done!
Lots of questions were asked throughout the evening as all present no doubt wondered what would be happening on the more practical session scheduled for Sunday 24th January 2010.
By 22.30hrs it was time for all to retire to the 'Bobs Smithy' Public House on Chorley Old Road to further chat about joining the team.
Finally, thanks to long experienced former Team Training Officer Andy Ryding who came out of his recent retirement from the team to lend his full support to this evening, although sadly we couldn't get him to rejoin!
Andy Ryding directing proceedings
All that was left was for the current team members to speculate (well place bets!) on who would turn up on Sunday 24th January.
...also on Thursday 21st... Assistance call from Lancashire Constabulary This afternoon our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE answered a pager call from Lancashire Constabulary, requesting the teams possible assistance with a search for a missing man in the Scorton area of Lancashire.
This search was within the operational area of our colleagues at Bowland Pennine MRT, with Bolton MRT and Rossendale and Pendle MRT being asked along with Bowland Pennine MRT to back up an envisaged major Police search operation scheduled for Friday 22nd January 2010.
As this man had been missing since Saturday 16th January, and the intended search day was a workday, only a very limited number of Bolton MRT personnel were available to assist, and this information was passed to Lancashire Constabulary for their search planning purposes.
During early evening our Team Leader also liaised with the Team Leader of Bowland Pennine MRT, Phil O'Brien.
(Postscript...It was decided to suspend MRT search involvement until Saturday 23rd January, with just Lancashire Constabulary resources taking part on Friday 22nd January. As it turned out all areas of 'interest' were covered using Police resources and our team was not required for Saturday. This account is provided here for information only and does not feature as a team incident).
Wednesday 20th January Training in new NWAS (Manchester) radio system At present our team benefits from data link and radio equipment which gives us direct contact with NWAS (Manchester) and to a slightly lesser degree with NWAS (Lancashire).
With the migration of all the statutory emergency services, including NWAS, to the O2 Airwaves network, we along with other local MRTs will lose such links.
Directly resulting from the recent very intensive use of MRTs in NWAS (Manchester) over the period of wintry weather in mid December to early January, NWAS (Manchester) has decided to train up a limited number of MRT members from all the teams which work in Greater Manchester in the use of their new O2 airwaves radio equipment, to aid inter-agency inter-operability.
This evening six Bolton MRT members (Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE, Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon, Mike Marsh, Dave Healey, Ken Oakes and Steve Fletcher) and five Rossendale and Pendle MRT members (Team Leader Andy Simpson, Deputy Team Leaders Paul Heywood, Graham Dalley, Ted Handley and Jenny Handley) met at our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ to receive such training.
The intensive training session commencing at 20.00hr, was kindly undertaken by Eric Finch, Clinical Practice Trainer, Bolton and Wigan Group, NWAS (Manchester) and covered NWAS Ambulance Service Radio procedures, Airwave Terminal Security procedures and most importantly, a very thorough grounding in the use of the Sepura Hand Terminal Airwaves sets.
All our members and those Rossendale and Pendle MRT members present, would like to thank NWAS (Manchester) for the provision of this training, with particular thanks to Eric Finch for the informative way he (thankfully) managed to get all eleven of us present up to speed with the operation and uses of the O2 airwaves network as utilised by NWAS (Manchester)
Similar training for our colleagues in Oldham MRT, Kinder MRT and Glossop MRT, who also worked intensively in Greater Manchester during the recent snows (and at other times) is we believe being provided by NWAS (Manchester) on Thursday evening 21st January.
...also on Wednesday 20th... Donation from Steve Farnan Steve Farnan of Bamber Bridge was due to attend our January 2010 new member intake sessions but due to family issues at the last moment, he found himself unable to attend such.
We offered to refund in view of his circumsatnces his £7.50 booking confirmation, however Steve very kindly asked that we still accept the £7.50 as a donation to the team.
So Steve, many thanks for your kindness and we may see you on future team recruitment sessions.
Tuesday 19th January Happy 60th Birthday to a very generous team supporter. This evening our Team Leader received a telephone call from a very kind Bolton lady who in lieu of presents for her 60th Birthday today, decided to ask all her family, friends and colleagues, to instead consider making a donation to the Bolton Mountain Rescue Team.
This very thoughtful supporter of the team on her birthday evening tonight telephoned our Team Leader Garry with the fantastic news that a large sum of money has now been raised for the team on her birthday, with more expected!
We will report further on this thoughtful donation when we receive more details, but in the meantime "Happy 60th Birthday," and thank you for thinking of supporting us in this very kind way.
...also on Tuesday 19th... Kind donation from Mr and Mrs Williams. Today we are pleased to announce a donation of £20.00 from Pauline and Michael Williams of Bolton.
In a letter accompanying their very kind donation, they stated simply, "Just to say thank you for all you do."
Such kind and sincere comments on the work we undertake are always welcomed by the team membership.
Monday 18th January Kind donation from Teresa Holland Today we received a very kind £15.00 donation from Teresa Holland, following her receipt of a Mountain Rescue England and Wales Goodyear Tyres sponsored 2010 Calendar.
(Please also see website 'news' articles dated Saturday 5th December 2009, Wednesday 9th December 2009 and Monday 14th December 2009)
...also on Monday 18th... Another very kind donation from our friend Jim and the members of the 'Shed' at Belthorn, Darwen Regular readers will know that Jim Fletcher and the members of the 'Shed' at Belthorn, Darwen, are stalwart supporters of the team, having made a number of large donations to the team over a great many years now.
Today we are very pleased to announce yet another extremely generous and very supportive large donation of £500.00 from Jim Fletcher and the members of the 'Shed' at Belthorn, Darwen.
Not wishing to embarress Jim, but through the medium of our website we would like to say a big personal thank you to him, who made up with his own money the £347.70 collected in the Team Collection Box at the 'Shed' by the members, to the grand total handed over to the team of £500.00.
The team had intended to visit Jim and the members of the 'Shed,' to personally accept this very thoughtful donation, but recent operations by the team precluded such, and Jim very kindly mailed this latest donation to our Chairman Ken Oakes.
Yet again the whole team membership would like to thank Jim and the members of the 'Shed' for their fantastic generosity and very much appreciated support of the Bolton Mountain Rescue Team.
Sunday 17th January Anonymous donation Today the team received a very kind £100.00 donation from a member of the public who wishes to remain anonymous.
This extremely generous person decided to make this donation after reading about the team's experiences over the past few weeks, namely during the wintry weather that has resulted in a significant increase in the team's workload.
The entire team would like to thank our anonymous benefactor very much for their kindness and consideration.
Saturday 16th January Donation from 2:09 Events Limited Today the team received a £750.00 donation from 2:09 Events Limited, arising from the team's attendance at the Saab Salomon Rivington Half Marathon event, held on 19th September 2009 (see previous article of the same date.)
The event in September involved 23 callout list members from Bolton MRT, plus 3 BMRT Support Group members and two other supporters, providing a standby rescue capability for the senior race event which attracted 279 entrants.
The 2010 Rivington Half Marathon is provisionally planned to take place on the 2nd October 2010.
Thanks to everyone at 2:09 Events Limited for this very kind donation to the team's funds.
...also on Saturday 16th... Donation from Ismail Momoniat Today the team received a generous £50.00 donation from Mr. Ismail Momoniat of Bolton, who sent the money to us via the Charities Aid Foundation.
Mr. Momoniat's donation came with the comment that we should "keep up the good work!"; an especially welcome sentiment following the team's recent busy period.
Thanks to Mr. Ismail Momoniat, from everyone at the Bolton MRT.
Wednesday 13th January Donation from Bolton and District Round Table Tonight Bolton MRT were visited by Craig Knights, Phil Stephenson, Barney Wharton-Jones and Nick Skelly of the Bolton and District Round Table, a registered charity that has chosen to support Bolton MRT as their Chairman's Charity in 2009/10. (We announced this on our website in February 2009)
Craig Knights and Phil Stephenson both took part in, and completed, the gruelling Brecon Beast mountain bike race in September 2009, which was a full day 71km bike route in the Brecon Beacons starting and finishing in Brecon village.
The route included the memorable pass over Pen-y-Fan and Fan-y-Big; weather conditions being hot made this point of the race somewhat memorable for the competitors.
In total around 500 competitors took part, and Craig and Phil completed the route in 4 hours 20 minutes and 5 hours 20 minutes respectively - Phil's extra hour due to the somewhat inevitable mechanical issues during such a long ride.
Sponsorship for the event came mainly via Craig and Phil's work colleagues and so thanks to them for supporting Bolton and District Round Table, and in turn Bolton MRT.
In conjunction with a sponsored Boxing event held at Rivington Hall Barn in October 2009, the Bolton and District Round Table have raised a fantastic £1000.00 for the Bolton MRT as their chosen Chairman's Charity in 2009/10.
Thanks to everyone at Bolton and District Round Table and thanks to all who supported their events to raise funds for Bolton MRT.
...also on Wednesday 13th... Membership recruitment latest We have now received to date 40 on line membership applications and 8 letters and emails to join the team, all of whom have received an invitation to attend our Thursday evening January 21st 2010 and all day Sunday January 24th 2010 recruitment sessions.
To date 23 persons have confirmed they will attending both of the sessions. The date for potential applicants to return their paperwork to the team has now passed, and the application form has been withdrawn from our website.
The application form is likely to be re-opened in advance of the anticipated November 2010 membership intake.
...also on Wednesday 13th... Donation from Richard Jackson, S.O.S Homecare Today the team received a £20 donation from Richard Jackson of S.O.S. Homecare.
Team member Dave Carter, whilst working for Richard, received payment for a plumbing job and Richard kindly added £20.00 after hearing about the work that the team has been involved with in recent weeks.
Thanks for your generosity Richard, from everyone at Bolton MRT.
...also on Wednesday 13th... Incident 40/2010 At 17:58 this evening our Team Leader Garry Rhodes was contacted by the Team Leader of Rossendale & Pendle MRT, Andy Simpson, to request our assistance at an incident in Ramsbottom, where an NWAS ambulance was stuck on the icy road and where they also required assistance in transporting a patient to the ambulance.
As Rossendale & Pendle MRT's resources were already deployed on another incident, we were asked to attend on their behalf (as this particular incident in Ramsbottom lay within RPMRT's operational area).
Team members arrived on scene at 18:04, followed by team member Steve Nelson at 18:18 who attended in his own Landrover (Steve lives in nearby Tottington). They all accompianed the NWAS crew in treating the patient, transporting the patient to the ambulance, and then carefully lowering the ambulance downhill using the team Landrover's vehicle mounted winch.
Completing this incident on scene at 19:08, team members then returned to our Ladybridge Hall base at 19:20.
...also on Wednesday 13th... Team members appear on "Channel M Today" This afternoon, team members Elaine Gilliland and Stephen Kenworthy were invited to sit on the couch at Channel M Today, (a news programme on the regional TV channel, "Channel M") to comment on the team's involvement in the birth of Leah Fane, Bolton's first baby of the decade.
Steven Fletcher, Stephen Kenworthy and Elaine Gilliland were the first emergency service on scene at 04:21 AM on New Year's Day, and were able to ensure that mother and baby were kept safe and warm until midwives from Royal Bolton Hospital arrived some 20 minutes later.
Channel M invited husband and wife David and Lindsay Fane and daughter Cara and baby Leah to talk about their unusual experience and Elaine and Stephen joined them from the rescue team to talk about their involvement in the birth.
You can watch the full interview here, courtesy of Channel M and YouTube.
...also on Wednesday 13th... Donation from a member of the public Today, after team members had returned from the major incident standby in West Yorkshire and were about to return home from our Ladybridge Hall base, a knock on the door downstairs was heard, with a member of the public asking "any chance of a tow?"
Again another vehicle (this time a van) was stuck on ice on the the steep road immediately adjacent to our base, and the team members present at base assisted the driver by towing his vehicle back to the top of the lane by using a team Landrover.
As a gesture of thanks the man promptly donated £10 to the team's funds... so thanks very much!
...also on Wednesday 13th... Incident 39/2010 At 11.04hrs this morning the team was paged by NWAS (Manchester) as part of a request to send Mountain Rescue resources into West Yorkshire, to assist Yorkshire Ambulance Service due to adverse wintry conditions affecting the West Yorkshire region.
NWAS (Manchester) also called upon our colleagues in Oldham MRT and Rossendale and Pendle MRT amongst other teams to lend similar assistance.
A full team page was made at 11.12hrs with further details available, resulting in the Bolton MRT deploying one vehicle, BM1 Into West Yorkshire crewed by Fred Taylor, Chris Tennant and Matthew Hailwood.
Initially at the direction of NWAS (Manchester) and then under the control of Yorkshire Ambulance Service, our vehicle was asked to stand by at the junction of the M62 and the A640.
At circa 13.50hrs with the situation easing in West Yorkshire, our vehicle was stood down and returned to the Bolton area.
...also on Wednesday 13th... Huge thanks to Frank Hulton Motor Engineers of Farnworth. With the huge increase in the usage of our four Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulance vehicles over the last few weeks thankfully they have held up well. Our BM1,2 and 3 vehicles were purchased new in August 1999, our BM4 vehicle was purchased new in August 2003.
However our BM1 developed a problem with its diff lock and required attention.
Frank Hulton of Frank Hulton Motor engineers, Farnworth, who looks after all the servicing and repairs on all our vehicles and trailers, immediately agreed, in view of the workload of the team, to deal with the problem straightaway, and thankfully sorted everything out this morning very quickly for us. Including even sorting out a problem with BM1 we didn’t know we had !
This means all four of our team vehicles are back in service, once again thanks to Frank Hulton of Frank Hulton Motor Engineers, Farnworth.
...also on Wednesday 13th... Kind donation from Mike Appleton We are pleased to report the receipt today of a very kind £20.00 donation from Mike Appleton of Leigh, Wigan.
With his donation Mike has kindly stated, "Keep up the good work, all the best to the team in 2010." (Please also see 'news' article dated Monday 26th February 2007).
As per your request Mike, there is another Bolton MRT Supporter (Car) Sticker on its way in the post to you, (this one is our latest design).
...also on Wednesday 13th... Further donation relating to the Silver wedding anniversarry of Mark and Megan Scott On the 3rd January we reported that we had received donations arising from the Silver Wedding Anniversary of team member Mark Scott and his wife Megan Scott.
Today we are pleased to announce the receipt of a further £20 donation from Miss A J Blackburn (in lieu of presents to Mark and Megan); this brings the total amount of money raised arising from Mark and Megan's celebrations to £120.
Thanks to all who have donated, and special thanks to Mark and Megan for choosing the team as the beneficiary of their anniversary celebrations.
Tuesday 12th January Incident 38/2010 At 12:48, NWAS (Manchester) Control contacted our Team Leader Garry
Rhodes MBE, again requesting the team's assistance, this time with an
incident in the Astley Bridge area of Bolton, involving a man with a
suspected dislocated shoulder, at a residential address where poor road
conditions prevented the NWAS Emergency Ambulance from getting close by.
A full team pager call out was initiated at 12:56, with our Deputy
Team Leader Geoff Seddon making a solo response in his vehicle, BM1 with
Ken Oakes and Elaine Gilliland on board, and BM2 with Ged Clarke on
board.
On arrival our crews discovered that a kind 4WD vehicle owner had
transferred the injured man to the Emergency Ambulance in his vehicle,
but we were still required to tow the Emergency ambulance out of the
snow and onto better road conditions.
We concluded this incident at 13:50.
This represents our 108th separate incident of this wintry period that
we have attended.
...also on Tuesday 12th... Incident 37/2010 Twelve days into the New Year and another day brings another call on the
team's services.
At 11:13 our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE was contacted by NWAS
(Manchester) Control for the team to assist an on scene NWAS
(Manchester) Emergency Ambulance crew transfer a patient from a
residential address into their Ambulance, which had become stuck in snow
whilst responding to this incident.
A full team call out page was made at 11:14, with our Deputy Team
Leader Geoff Seddon arriving on scene, in the Halliwell area of Bolton
at circa 11:35, closely followed by our BM3 vehicle (Ken Oakes) at
11:42 and BM2 (Ged Clarke and Elaine Gilliland) at 11:44.
The NWAS Emergency ambulance crew had managed to get the patient into
their Ambulance, and for our responding members it was a simple matter
of towing the Emergency Ambulance out of the snow, and checking the NWAS
Rapid Response Vehicle could also leave the incident safely.
We were stood down on scene at circa 12:09 with the incident
completed by 12:40.
...also on Tuesday 12th... Thanks to NWAS (Manchester) Throughout this wintry period NWAS (Manchester) has been calling on the
services of a great many Mountain Rescue Teams within and on the borders
of the Greater Manchester area, principally Bolton MRT, Glossop MRT,
Kinder MRT, Oldham MRT, and Rossendale and Pendle MRT, to assist the
Ambulance Service in the provision of its emergency response service.
(Other volunteer resources have included 4WD Ambulances from St John
Ambulance and the British Red Cross)
The provision of this continuing volunteer assistance is constantly
being acknowledged with thanks by NWAS (Manchester) staff in all their
dealings with our team, and in turn we give thanks for the ready co-operation and close liaison which is now very firmly established between our respective services.
...also on Tuesday 12th... Donation from Mrs. C. Livesey Today, Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon received a £10 donation from Mrs. C. Livesey of Horwich, after Geoff assisted Mrs. Livesey with the recovery of her car from a ditch, which was stuck there as a result of the snow and ice on the ground.
Monday 11th January Incident 36/2010 A quiet early morning, with no enquiries or advice calls from NWAS (Manchester) Control, but how long would it last !
A call at around 10.00hrs from our Team Leader Garry Rhodes to Team Leader Andy Simpson of Rossenedale and Pendle MRT to enquire if he had also had a quiet nights uninterrupted sleep was met with a firm ‘no’ from Andy, with their call then interrupted by Andys pager bleeping alerting RPMRT to a yet another call out, this time in Colne.
Perhaps tempting fate, after consulting with NWAS (Manchester) Control mid day that no MRTs were currently active in Greater Manchester or on call, our Team Leader paged out at 12.35hrs that there was no envisaged need to place our resources (at present) on standby.
The inevitable then happened, with our pagers going off at 12.52hrs to contact NWAS (Manchester) Control regards an incident on the Johnson Fold estate in Bolton.
At this stage the despatcher David at NWAS (Manchester) Control was now dealing with four separate MRT’s on four separate incidents in Greater Manchester ! After getting all the relevant information, our Team Leader Garry Rhodes made a full team pager call out at 13.03hrs.
One NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Ambulance was stuck in snow trying to reach a patient address, with the team required to extricate this and also possibly transport the patient to the second responding NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Ambulance.
Our Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon (who had responded in his vehicle) and Ged Clarke solo responding in BM2, with muscle power and snow shovels extricated the stuck Ambulance and also made sure the other Ambulance with the patient now on board, could safely leave the Johnson Fold housing estate.
Our BM3 vehicle with Fred Taylor and Chris Tennant on board was stood down responding nearby, with our BM1 vehicle stood down about to depart our LBH base, with Ken Oakes and Elaine Gilliland on board. This incident was concluded on scene at circa 13.32hrs.
Due to the way we have reported some incidents, although we have shown this as Incident 36 of 2010, in reality (yes it is confusing) it is the 61st separate incident we have attended in 2010.
Combined with the 45x separate incidents attended in 2009 since this wintry period started (for us) on the evening of December 19th 2009, we have now attended in total 106 separate incidents to date, all related to the prevailing wintry conditions.
...also on Monday 11th... Kind message of thanks from local Rotarians. Today our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE received an email from David and Heather Moores, two local Rotarians, the full contents of their very kind email reads as;
"Dear Gary, we have been reading in the Press about the massive contribution you and your team have been making to public safety throughout the bad weather crisis over the past couple of weeks. It sounds as if none of you have been home much very recently!!
We know from the visits our two Rotary Clubs (Westhoughton and Bolton Lever) have made to your HQ just how much training, dedication and sheer hard work BMRT put in to deliver, time after time, the excellent level of service you provide.
Please let your Team know how much their efforts are appreciated by the Bolton (and Manchester) public."
Best Wishes, David and Heather Moores (local Rotarians)
This is but one example of the huge number of kind comments we have received from many individuals and organisations regarding the work we have been carrying out over this current period of wintry weather.
Sunday 10th January Incidents today.... Today, we "only" attended three incidents according to our website, in Daubhill, Smithills and Daveyhulme; however as with every other day there have also been a small number of incidents during which we were stood down almost immediately, or they were just advice calls between our Team Leader/Deputy Team Leader and NWAS Ambulance Control.
Today has been no different with a call to our Team Leader at circa 03:00 this morning for an incident in the Tottington area requiring the team's assistance, which our Team Leader passed over to Rossendale & Pendle MRT as our team was being rested (they in turn were stood down responding, and then in the way of things, Oldham MRT were despatched to this same incident!)
At 11:58 today, NWAS Ambulance Control contacted our Team Leader to callout the team to the report of a male who had fallen 20ft down an embankment in the snow at the rear of his property. An immediate mobilisation of the team took place as members were already at our base, with a stand-down following just as quickly (some 7 minutes later) as the team's services were no longer required at this incident.
At 13:15 NWAS (Lancashire) paged the team for assistance in getting to a residential property in the Belmont area; team members who were ice climbing nearby in Great Gutter gulley were immediately despatched to be stood down minutes later as they were not required.
At 16:02, team vehicle BM2 was despatched to assist NWAS (Manchester) with the report of an ambulance stuck in snow in the Irlams O'th' Height area of Salford. Five minutes into this vehicle's response, they were stood down as neighbours in the street where the ambulance was stuck had all rallied together to get the ambulance clear of the snow.
Early evening, some team members at base volunteered their time to assist private vehicles stuck in snow at the bottom of Ladybridge Lane, a steep road alongside our base. This was not an easy recovery to do involving fitting the snow chains to our vehicles and also using the vehicle winch and strop, but was nontheless successful. One of the drivers kindly made a £10 donation to the team as thanks for our efforts.
None of the incidents have been recorded in our incident figures but are nontheless recorded here for information.
...also on Sunday 10th... Incident 35/2010 At 20:19 this evening, NWAS (Manchester) paged the team for assistance recovering an ambulance at a care home in the Davyhulme area of Manchester, stuck on ice, with the crew still treating the elderly patient concerned.
A limited team member response was made involving 4 team members in our BM1 and BM3 vehicles, and our Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon, responding solo in his vehicle.
We arrived on scene at 20:37 and using snow and metal shovels, cleared the ice, with Geoff Seddon lending his driving skills to extricate the ambulance.
DTL Geoff Seddon directs the real workers from on high (TL Garry Rhodes and Steve Fletcher)
Team members then assisted the NWAS crew in getting the patient to the ambulance on the NWAS trolley stretcher.
As with all other incidents attended of this nature, the NWAS (Manchester) ambulance crew concerned were very appreciative of the team's assistance and we all got a grateful 'cuppa from the staff at the care home concerned.
All involved returned to our Ladybridge Hall base by 21:53.
...also on Sunday 10th... Incident 34/2010 At 12:28, NWAS (Manchester) Control directly contacted our Team Leader for the team to attend an incident at Smithills Coaching House, Bolton, within Smithills Country Park.
A family member attending the restaurant was feeling unwell and icy road conditions were reported as being prevalent. Coincidentally all team vehicles were very nearby and en-route to Rivington and Belmont, hence all responded.
Team members arrived on scene to treat the collapsed lady and awaited the arrival of the NWAS Emergency Ambulance, which soon arrived.
In total, 13 team members were involved in this response.
...also on Sunday 10th... Incident 33/2010 At 08:12 this morning, NWAS (Manchester) Control paged the team for assistance with an NWAS Emergency Ambulance stuck on snow, trying to access a patient's address in the Daubhill area of Bolton.
Our Team Leader collected the relevant information, resulting in a full team pager call at 08:26. Our Team Leader was first on scene at 08:45, closely followed by our Deputy Leader and our BM3 vehicle.
Our BM3 vehicle managed to tow the ambulance out of the deep snow with two other team members assisting the ambulance crew with a short carry of the elderly lady involved to the ambulance.
The Emergency Ambulance was able to leave safely with the patient on board at 09:15 with team members departing shortly afterwards.
In total, 10 team members had arrived on scene and our BM1 and BM3 vehicles; with an additional four team members stood down responding.
...also on Sunday 10th... All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy... Well, whilst the cold spell stays with us which brings a whole world of work to the team's membership, at least we found time to play today!
A little-known gulley in Belmont provides the perfect arena for a spot of ice-axe placement and crampon practice in these freezing conditions, and a number of team members took advantage of the ice to have a bit of fun.
Team member Alistair Greenough practices his winter skills
Chris Greenhalgh, Team Equipment Officer (Vehicles), starts an ascent
Saturday 9th January Incident 32/2010 At 21:35 tonight, again as we were completing paperwork relevant to the previous incident at Johnson Fold, the Team Leader was contacted by NWAS (Manchester) Control to ask for our assistance in reaching a casualty at his home address in Walmersley, Bury.
Two team vehicles (carrying 5 team members in total) were despatched to this incident, mobilising at 21:41 and arriving on scene in Walmersley at 22:03.
Fortunately the ambulance had just managed to get to the casualty's address and then free from the snow and back onto the main road with the assistance of the neighbours of the patient concerned. However our trip wasn't completely wasted... we had to assist the NWAS Rapid Response Vehicle in driving off the estate, which itself had also become stuck!
One completed we headed back to our Ladybridge Hall HQ, finishing the incident at 22:42. With a small amount of paperwork (and no more interruptions!) the members present left for their home addresses... hopefully all will be tucked up in bed very soon, in anticipation of more callouts tomorrow!
...also on Saturday 9th... Incident 31/2010 Whilst team members were still at Ladybridge Hall following the day's incidents, the Team Leader was contacted by NWAS (Manchester) at 20:49 regarding a stuck ambulance in the Johnson Fold area of Bolton.
Being no strangers to this particular estate (we were called to the same road just 24 hours earlier to assist a stuck ambulance), we made a quick response and two team vehicles arrived at 21:08.
The team was required to transport a woman in labour from her home address to the nearest point that the ambulance could drive to, some 400m away. She was quickly transported in our BM1 Landrover ambulance, with the patient's mother also transported in our BM3 Landrover ambulance, and both were driven down the road to the waiting NWAS ambulance.
The team guided the NWAS ambulance off the estate, and wished them well as the patient and her family were whisked away to Royal Bolton Hospital's maternity department.
...also on Saturday 9th... Team hits a century in 21 days It has been 21 days since our first callout on the evening of Saturday 19th December 2009, related to the period of wintry weather in our team operational area.
With incident 30/2010 (late this afternoon), we have reached an unbelievable total of 100 seperate operational incidents over this snowy period.
Never has the team been so busy in all of its 41 year history. These operational incidents and all the work which is associated in supporting them, represents a huge amount of time and effort on behalf of the team membership.
At least some element of the team has been on standby or has been dealing with an incident for 18 hours of every day in the past few days, and the commitment shown by all the volunteers, whether it be administrative work, or on the front line, has been completely unprecedented.
We offer our thanks on behalf of the community we serve, to the employers and families of all the team's members, all of whom have been understanding in allowing the team's members time away from work or families during this period if inclement weather.
...also on Saturday 9th... Incident 30/2010 With a small number of team at our base, writing up reports of the day's incidents, cleaning kit, repairing damaged items arising from the multitude of incidents we have attended (including broken vehicles!), the team was paged by Lancashire Constabulary at 17:24 regarding an urgent search for a missing person, centred in the Belmont and Rivington areas, giving police cause for concern for his welfare.
Over the telephone, very experienced team member Mike Marsh discussed an immediate search strategy with Lancashire Constabulary's Force Incident Manager, which included searching moorland carpark and layby areas.
Just as we were initiating a full team callout following these urgent initial discussions, the excellent news came back to the team from Lancashire Constabulary that their officers had safely located the missing man in the very bad winter ground conditions prevailing, and there was no further requirement for the team's involvement.
...also on Saturday 9th... Incident 29/2010 At 15:15, at the conclusion of the previous incident, our Team Leader Garry Rhodes, whilst in contact with NWAS (Lancashire) Control on an administrative matter, was directed by the same control to callout the team to a sledging accident on the moorland edge field system above Rivington Hall Barn, Lever Park, Rivington.
A full team pager callout was initiated at 15:27 following an immediate response being made at circa 15:20 from the previous incident location.
In total 12 team members arrived at the Rivington Hall Barn RVP, with a further 7 stood down responding, along with three of our Landrover ambulance vehicles.
Team members assisted the NWAS (Lancashire) crew, from Chorley ambulance station, with a carry of the 11 year old girl, through the tracks at the rear of Rivington Hall Barn, to the waiting ambulance at Rivington Hall Barn.
The girl, who was evacuated on an ambulance longboard, had suspected lower lumbar spine and hip injuries. We concluded this incident at 17:00 back at our base.
...also on Saturday 9th... Incident 28/2010 At 14:36 today, the team was paged by NWAS (Manchester) to respond to assist an NWAS (Manchester) Rapid Response Vehicle and an NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Ambulance, both stuck on compacted snow and ice whilst accessing a casualty's address in the Moses Gate area of Bolton.
A quick response by our Team Leader Garry Rhodes (who was visiting his parents nearby), backed up by our BM1 Landrover, quickly resolved this situation with a bit of digging and pushing.
Besides the four team members directly involved, five other team members were stood down responding to this incident.
...also on Saturday 9th... Incident 27/2010 At 03:25 this morning our Team Leader was contacted direct by NWAS (Manchester) control with the report of an NWAS ambulance crew needing assistance accessing a narrow snowbound road to a casualty in the Bradshaw Chapel area of Harwood.
En-route, after he had conducted a limited member callout, our Team Leader was informed by NWAS Ambulance Control that the responding ambulance had got stuck on nearby snowbound roads whilst travelling to the incident address.
A second NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Ambulance was despatched and was guided to the casualty address by team member Ged Clarke in his Range Rover.
With four team members still responding in two team Landrover ambulances, Ged Clarke and our Team Leader Garry Rhodes managed to dig out and then tow the stuck ambulance from the Ashdene Crescent area of Harwood, back onto good road conditions.
Our responding BM3 vehicle with Mike Marsh and Ken Oakes and our BM1 vehicle Steve Fletcher and Dr. Clare Whitney on board, were all stood down whilst responding.
All members involved managed to get back to bed at 05:15.
...also on Saturday 9th... Happy Birthday to team member Chris Greenhalgh Long-time team member Chris Greenhalgh turned 30 yesterday... but with the call for team members to be on standby at our Ladybridge Hall base last night, Chris opted to forego his celebrations, and instead spent the evening in the company of his team mates.
So Happy Birthday, Chris, from everyone at the team... and we're sure you'll have a chance to go out tonight and celebrate!
Friday 8th January All team records broken with regards to incidents attended by the team Amazing as it sounds, with all the operational activity that the team has been undertaking over this period of wintry weather, we have never stopped to count up all the individual incidents that we have actually attended, until this afternoon.
The Manchester Evening News staff attached to us asked the same question.
We were surprised to find out that since January 1st, team members have attended 51 separate operational incidents.
The wintry weather in the Bolton and surrounding areas generally started on the afternoon of Saturday 19th December 2009, commencing with an afternoon snowfall. Our first callout then came on the evening of this same day.
From the evening of 19th December, up to the evening of December 31st 2009, we attended 45 separate incidents.
This means in total since this wintry weather started in our team's operational area on December 19th, continuing right through until today, the team has attended 96 separate incidents.
This represents a huge operational workload on the team over a very short time period of 20 days - particularly when one considers that each incident has to be reported, equipment and vehicles have to be replenished and cleaned (as do our team members!), with many incidental demands on our time such as retrieving team equipment from hospitals.
Needless to say the routine training functions of the team have taken a back seat and we apologise here for any lateness in replying to anything other than operational correspondence.
We particularly apologise to any person or organisations which have sent in donations to the team, although all of these donations have been acknowledged on our website, we have yet to reply formally in writing with letters of thanks.
Thank for appreciating our situation, we'll catch up when the snow finally melts!
...also on Friday 8th... Incident 26/2010 At 21:33 this evening our Team Leader was contacted by NWAS (Manchester) to call on resources on standby at our Ladybridge Hall base to respond to the report of an emergency ambulance which was unable to access a patient's address within the steep snow covered road layout of the Johnson Fold housing estate.
Our first vehicle BM1 arrived on scene at 21:48 and using the powerful vehicle mounted winch was able to winch (in stages) the ambulance some 300m to the patient's address, whilst the emergency ambulance crew were rendering casualty care.
The casualty was then assisted to the emergency ambulance, which with careful reversing under escort from our BM3 vehicle, was able to leave the estate, safely en route to hospital.
This incident concluded at 22:30 and the resources on standby then stood down for members to depart to their home addresses.
As this incident could have required a stretcher carry, 8 team members responded, in our BM1 and BM3 vehicles, and team member Ged Clarke's Range Rover, and our Team Leader's vehicle.
...also on Friday 8th... Return to the team of husband and wife duo Jonathan and Stephanie Holt Tonight the team is pleased to welcome back former team members (and husband and wife) Stephanie and Jonathan Holt.
Due to family and work commitments on their time, both had to leave the team's callout list in 2007, but are now back and rejoined our ranks tonight!
Both bring considerable experience and skills in a number of areas to the team. Jonathan specialises in technical rope work (and was formerly our equipment officer for stretchers & rope rescue equipment). Stephanie has many years experience in the nursing profession and brings an excellent bedside manner when dealing with our casualties!
...also on Friday 8th... Incident 25/2010 At 14:06, NWAS (Manchester) Control contacted our Team Leader to request assistance with an NWAS (Manchester) PTS (Patient Transfer Service) vehicle, stuck on snow and ice road conditions on Johnson Fold, Markland Hill, Bolton.
Our BM4 vehicle with two team members and the two reporters from the Manchester Evening News responded and towed the PTS vehicle back onto the clear road.
...also on Friday 8th... Incident 24/2010 At 11:55 NWAS (Manchester) Control directly tasked our BM1 vehicle, with three crew on board, to an incident in Breightmet, Bolton, where an Emergency Ambulance was stuck on snow and icy road conditions outside a residential address where a female casualty was experiencing breathing difficulties.
Our BM1 crew managed to winch the Emergency Ambulance to better road conditions, and stood by whilst the NWAS crew continued to treat the casualty in her home, in case hospital transfer was required and the casualty needed to be assisted to the Ambulance.
Thankfully the casualty responded well to her treatment and recovered so as not to need hospital transfer.
Kinder MRT (based in Hayfield on the edge of the Peak District) was also called to this incident, and stood down on scene.
...also on Friday 8th... Incident 23/2010 At the same time as BM1 was being despatched on incident 22/2010, NWAS (Manchester) Control requested that our BM4 vehicle respond to a residential address in the Shevington area of Wigan, where the Emergency Ambulance crew had requested help getting the female casualty down a steep snow and ice covered drive and into their Ambulance.
Alongside our BM4 crew (and the Manchester Evening News staff) our Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon also responded in his vehicle (equipped with blue lights and sirens).
Upon arrival our BM4 crew assisted the NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Ambulance crew in getting the female casualty into their vehicle for onward transfer to hospital.
...also on Friday 8th... Incident 22/2010 At 11:00 NWAS (Manchester) Control, (again Katherine contacting our Team Leader Garry) requested a team vehicle assist an NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Ambulance at an incident in Farnworth, where snow and icy road conditions were causing problems for the responding Ambulance.
Our BM1 vehicle responded with Elaine, Dave and Steve, arriving on scene to find the male casualty suffering chest pains already on board the NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Ambulance, which was stuck on snow and ice.
Our BM1 crew winched and towed the Ambulance to better road conditions, which then continued its journey to Royal Bolton Hospital.
...also on Friday 8th... Incident 21/2010 At circa 10:00 our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE in his co-ordinator role with NWAS (Manchester) control was contacted by despatcher Katherine, to mobilise the team to a Residential Care Home in Horwich, where an Emergency Ambulance couldn’t reach the location due to icy road conditions.
Our BM1 vehicle with crew members Elaine Gilliland, Dave Carter and Steve Nelson, alongside BM4 with Fred Taylor, Matthew Hailwood and the Manchester Evening News reporting crew all responded, but upon arrival were stood down on scene as the NWAS crew had managed to get the casualty into their vehicle.
Both vehicles returned to their Standby location at our Ladybridge Hall Base/HQ at 10:52.
...also on Friday 8th... Standby on behalf of NWAS (Manchester) This morning, meeting at 09:00, five team members crewing our BM1 and BM4 vehicles went to standby at our Ladybridge Hall Base/HQ on behalf of NWAS (Manchester) during the current continuing wintry conditions (Again overnight temperatures of average minus 5c and with all ‘side’ roads in our team area still snow / ice bound).
Attached to the team today alongside our vehicle crews are Photographer Paul Hayes and Reporter Paul Britton from the Manchester Evening News.
Thursday 7th January Huge vote of thanks to the Pager Bureau staff at Mypalive The team as a whole is primarily called out via a message pager system, operated by Mypalive (Vodapage), with every team member having a message pager. (our ‘little belt buddies,’ or that thing that wakes us and our partners up in the middle of the night, followed by many expletives!)
Readers of our website will realise we have had an unprecedented number of calls on the teams services in this recent wintry weather period.
Throughout this period our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE, would like to register with thanks the understanding and patience of the Mypalive call takers at the pager bureau, (Newton Court, Faraday road, Liverpool, L13 1EJ) who have had to cope with trying to take down messages, with (often) our radio traffic confusingly in the background, and (our little joke) trying to understand our Team Leaders ‘Little Hultoner’ (Salford overspill!) accent! (most of the call takers have a Liverpudlian accent)
A great many of the call takers at the Bureau enquire as to the incidents we are sending messages about, and always pass on their appreciation of the work we and other MRTs who use their Bureau undertake.
(Included within this is a special thanks from Garry to call taker Tony Moran, who takes a particularly keen interest in the work of the team)
Thanks to everyone at Mypalive (Vodapage) you are part of the chain that fully supports the Bolton MRT.
...also on Thursday 7th... Incident 20/2010 At 15.59hrs, NWAS (Manchester) Control despatched our BM2 vehicle to the report of a casualty from GMP at a residential address in the Halliwell area of Bolton.
NWAS (Manchester) had been contacted by Greater Manchester Police to assist with a 61 year old man who had numerous health problems. Our BM2 vehicle transported the gentleman to hospital.
...also on Thursday 7th... Incident 19/2010 At 15.53hrs our BM2 vehicle with team members Fred Taylor and Dave Carter on board, was despatched by NWAS (Manchester) to a residential address on the East Lancashire Road in the Astley area of Wigan, to assist an on scene NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Ambulance crew, with carrying a casualty across snow and ice to their vehicle.
Whilst responding to this incident, our BM2 vehicle was stood down responding on the East Lancashire Road in the Tyldesley area.
...also on Thursday 7th... Incident 18/2010 Our BM1 Vehicle and Deputy Leaders vehicle was despatched to an incident at circa 14.54hrs, on behalf of NWAS (Manchester) to a residential address in the Leigh area, with the report of a male with breathing difficulties.
The casualty was transported to Royal Bolton Hospital in our Deputy Team Leaders vehicle.
...also on Thursday 7th... Incident 17/2010 Our BM1 vehicle was redirected from its response to the previous incident to the Westleigh area of Leigh, to handle a call on behalf of NWAS (Manchester) at a residential address, involving a 57 years old woman reported to be suffering from chest pains.
Upon arrival on scene, responding NWAS (Manchester) resources had also arrived, and our BM1 vehicle with team members Elaine Gilliland and Ged Clarke on board was stood down on scene at circa 14.36hrs.
...also on Thursday 7th... Incident 16/2010 Whilst on standby to NWAS (Manchester) at our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ, at circa 14.11hrs our BM1, BM2 and Deputy Team Leaders vehicle was despatched to an incident in the Leigh area of Wigan, on behalf of NWAS (Manchester).
On board our Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon’s vehicle was Steve Thompson, a reporter with the Bolton News.
The incident was to a residential address with the report of a casualty suffering abdominal pains.
Our BM2 vehicle, with team members Fred Taylor and Dave Carter on board then transported the casualty in their vehicle to Royal Bolton Hospital.
(Our BM1 vehicle was redirected during its response to this incident to another incident)
...also on Thursday 7th... Standby on behalf of NWAS (Manchester) Commencing at circa 10:45, the team has once again placed crewed vehicles at the immediate disposal of NWAS (Manchester), based at our Ladybridge Hall Base/HQ.
As at 12:00, three team members are on hand to immediately respond to any requests on the team. (more team members will be available in the early afternoon).
Directly attached to the team this afternoon is a reporter form the Bolton News (our local daily newspaper, which has been providing excellent news reports on the recent work of the team)
Tomorrow, arrangements are in hand for a reporter from the Manchester Evening News to be similarly attached to the team for a day.
Thanks again to the staff at NWAS Ladybridge Hall HQ who have allowed our members present to make full and free use of their restaurant facilities.
...also on Thursday 7th... Incident 15/2010 With temperatures registering -9°C in the Bolton area, our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE, in the now established and well rehearsed practice of being directly contacted, was requested to turn out the team at circa 07:00 this morning to assist an NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Ambulance crew with accessing a casualty location in the Daubhill area of Bolton.
A full team pager call out was sent at 07:09, with our Bolton Mobile 1 and 3 vehicles responding plus our Team Leader and Deputy Leader in their respective vehicles.
The incident involved an elderly lady who needed stretcher evacuation from her home address to the NWAS Emergency Ambulance, which in turn needed extricating from an ice/snow bound road onto better nearby road conditions.
Our Team Leader arrived on scene at 07:49 to discover one of the NWAS Ambulance crew members was Hazel Kennedy, a member of our Support Group.
The lady concerned was in her home address already on a long board, and whilst our BM3 Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulance vehicle towed the NWAS Ambulance off the ice/snow bound road surface, other team members working with the NWAS crew and the lady's son-in-law placed her on one of our specialist Mountain Rescue stretchers and sledged her on the snow to the NWAS Emergency Ambulance.
With the lady now on board the Ambulance, along with her son in law and daughter, our BM3 vehicle then towed the ambulance onto the nearby main road, which was clearer of snow and ice.
This incident was completed on scene at 08:46.
In total 5 Bolton MRT members were involved in assisting the NWAS (Manchester) Emergency crew.
Thanks as ever to the NWAS (Manchester) Belle Vue Control Room staff, for their help – and patience, (in this case dispatcher Katherine) in working with our Team Leader and responding team vehicles in passing on essential information
As a footnote, during this incident, co-incidentally the NWAS Director of Emergency Operations Derek Cartwright contacted our Team Leader for an update on the team's recent activities!
...also on Thursday 7th... 10th Annual Race Night raises thousands of pounds for Charity… On Thursday November 26th Professional Security Magazine and Visual Verification hosted the ever popular Charity Race Night at Belle Vue Stadium, Manchester. The event has been running for 10 years now and nearly two hundred people braved the northern weather to support what is now a fixture in the Security industry calendar.
The evening raised £4000 for charity and the worthy causes this year included Bolton Mountain Rescue Team, where we benefitted to the tune of £1000.00, and Francis House Children’s Hospice. A cheque for £2000 also went to The Worshipful Company of Security Professionals who will be passing the proceeds on to Child Victims of Crime (The Master’s chosen Charity for this year).
Security Magazine and Visual Verification would like to thank Bold Communications, Dedicated Micros, Inner Range, Norbain, NVT, Panasonic, Pyronix, Risco, Samsung Techwin, Selectamark, Sitewatch, TeleEye, Texecom, Tyco & Xtralis for their wonderful support. Quite apart from booking tables and sponsoring races a large amount of money was raised on the night, so the generosity of these companies is highly appreciated.
After this year’s success, Visual Verification and Professional Security Magazing are already looking forward to next year, when they will be celebrating their eleventh year and hopefully raising even more money!
Wednesday 6th January Incident 14/2010 At 18:08 this evening our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE was contacted directly by NWAS (Manchester) for the team's immediate assistance regards an ambulance, unable to reach a residential casualty address due to compacted snow and ice road conditions.
A small number of team members were still at our Ladybridge Hall base/HQ after the conclusion of today's NWAS standby.
Two team vehicles and our team leader's vehicle were able to make an immediate response to the Clifton, Manchester area, along with a third team vehicle that was based at this time at a team member's home address.
Our first vehicle BM4 arrived on scene at circa 18:30 and established that the elderly casualty (with breathing difficulties) could be transported from his snowbound home address in a team vehicle, to the NWAS emergency ambulance which was 200m away on a nearby main road.
Due to deep snow still on this main road, team members had to stop all traffic whilst the casualty was transferred from our BM4 vehicle to the NWAS emergency ambulance.
In total, six Bolton MRT team members were involved in this incident, which also included our BM1, 3 and 4 vehicles and our Team Leader's vehicle.
Again an excellent example of cooperation between ourselves and an NWAS (Manchester) emergency ambulance crew.
...also on Wednesday 6th... NWAS (Manchester) wintry conditions standby Today, with wintry conditions continuing throughout the whole of the Greater Manchester area, the team was requested by NWAS (Manchester) to go to crewed vehicle standby at our Ladybridge Hall base.
This commenced at circa 11:00, finishing at circa 17:30. Throughout this whole period, all four of our team Landrover Mountain Rescue ambulances were available to both NWAS (Manchester) and NWAS (Lancashire).
As with yesterday, NWAS emergency staff and paramedics were directly attached to the Bolton MRT.
In the case of today, all the emergency staff and paramedics were from the NWAS HART-USAR (Hazardous Area Response Team - Urban Search and Rescue).
A small number of calls were received, all resulting in quick stand downs.
An unbelieveably quiet day for us and the attached HART-USAR personnel, perhaps the message to only call ambulances for life-threatening emergencies is now being taken up by the public.
As with yesterday, many thanks to our hosts at our base location (NWAS Ladybridge Hall headquarters) for arranging for their grounds maintenance staff to completely clear snow from our base/HQ entry and exit roads, and to the Ladybridge Hall catering staff for providing all the Bolton MRT members with a full lunchtime meal.
In total, 12 Bolton MRT team members were involved over this standby period.
During the day our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE was interviewed by Granada TV news (over the phone), the local press, and conducted a live radio interview for Tower FM, regards the team's recent high volume of incidents.
Our Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon was similarly interviewed for BBC Radio Manchester.
...also on Wednesday 6th... Membership recruitment latest We have now received to date 39x on line membership applications and 7 letters and emails to join the team, all of whom have received an invitation to attend our Thursday evening January 21st 2010 and all day Sunday January 24th 2010 recruitment sessions.
To date 14x persons have confirmed they will attending both the sessions. Can we please appeal to anyone who has yet to send back their confirmation forms for the January sessions to do so as soon as possible, and before Monday 11th January at the latest.
Tuesday 5th January Incident 13/2010 At circa 19:45 this evening, with a small number of team members remaining at our Ladybridge Hall base after the day's numerous incidents, team member Mike Marsh was contacted by former team member Jonathan Holt of Tyldesley, advising us of an incident near to his home address on a snow and ice bound path across fields where a man had fallen badly and was initially being aided by Jonathan, with his wife Stephanie (also a former team member) contacting the ambulance service and suggesting that an MRT be involved.
In consultation with NWAS (Manchester) Control, our Team Leader was requested to respond to this incident which was on a footpath leading across to Shakerley Common in the Tyldesley area of Wigan.
Team vehicle BM1, with team members Mark Parry, Michael O'Brien and Mike Marsh on board responded, along with our Team Leader Garry Rhodes and Deputy Team Leader making solo responses in their vehicles.
On arrival on scene our 5 team members were stood down as GMP officers along with NWAS ambulance staff and Jonathan Holt had been able to evacuate the casualty who had hip & lower back injuries to the waiting ambulance.
This incident concluded after 1 hour.
...also on Tuesday 5th... Donation from a member of the public Whilst the team was engaged in the snow cover today, we were assisting stuck motorists on the A58, Beaumont Road, Bolton.
After a team vehicle towed a stuck car out from the snow, a grateful member of the public pressed two £5 notes into our hands, as a donation to the team's funds.
So thank you very much, and we hope that the remainder of your journey was without incident!
...also on Tuesday 5th... Incident 12/2010 At 04:31 in the early hours of this morning following a very heavy overnight snowfall (which was continuing) the team was paged by NWAS (Manchester) Control to respond to a casualty in the Eccles area, with heart problems due to the responding ambulance being stuck in deep snow.
Our Team Leader Garry Rhodes instigated a full team callout but due to heavy snow many members had difficulty responding.
This incident became the first of 20 seperate incidents attended by the team during the day, up to the last incident at the day which concluded at 17:40.
In total, 20 team members were involved with NWAS Paramedics directly attached to the team forming part of our Landrover Mountain Rescue ambulance crews.
In addition two of our members' private 4WD vehicles were also drafted in to assist in the day's workload, and to backup our four team Landrover ambulances.
Very heavy snowfalls culminating in over 12 inches of snow accumulated during the day leading to gridlock throughout the whole of the Greater Manchester area.
Throughout the early morning the conditions worsened to such an extent that NWAS (Manchester) declared a major incident and mobilised Mountain Rescue teams from Bolton, Calder Valley, Holme Valley, Kinder, Glossop, Oldham, and Rossendale & Pendle to assist NWAS in the Greater Manchester area.
NWAS (Manchester) also made appeals through the local radio and regional television for the public to only call on the ambulance service for life-threatening emergency cases.
Our Ladybridge Hall base/HQ even became a mini NWAS ambulance control with the Regional Director of Emergency Operations for NWAS, Derek Cartwright and a very senior NWAS (Manchester) Operational Manager, Ged Blezard operating an overview role based on all incidents coming into the NWAS (Manchester) ambulance control.
A television interview for GMTV was filmed at our Ladybridge Hall base with NWAS Director Derek Cartwright giving reporter Elaine Wilcox an overview of the operations to date (the interview took place late morning), placing great emphasis on the cooperation between all MRTs operating in Greater Manchester and the NWAS (Manchester) control and road staff.
Throughout the day the snowfall continued with the team responding to a wide range of incidents including:
Assisting ambulances stuck in snow
Getting casualties from their home addresses across snowbound roads to the nearest point that NWAS ambulances could reach
Responding directly to emergency incidents on behalf of NWAS due to the prevailing conditions, and transporting such casualties to hospitals
Taking casualties to hospital from ambulances which had become stuck in snow
Responding directly to difficult access incidents such as snow sledgers on steep, frozen ground
On one occassion, clearing a main arterial road around Bolton of stranded vans and cars which were causing massive tailbacks
Many of the above incidents involved serious trauma or medical conditions and even involved responding to a woman in labour (we got the lady to hospital where she gave birth shortly afterwards.
BM2 and BM4 deliver a woman in labour to Royal Bolton Hospital maternity unit, with a plough trying to shift the masses of snow lying around!
Team Landrovers assisting the ambulance service at a nursing home
Team members use shovels to clear a path for an NWAS emergency ambulance
Team members and NWAS staff at the sledging accident at Longsight Park, with the casualty kept warm in our red "casualty bag".
Team members again assist NWAS by carrying the casualty to the ambulance which couldn't quite get to the home address
The last call of the day as night fell, to a sledger who had slipped on some steps, possibly injuring her back.
The snow conditions at our Ladybridge Hall base/HQ.
Team members Neil Aspinall, Fred Taylor, and Steve Fletcher managed to see the funny side.
Team members working with NWAS staff at the scene of a sledging accident at Rumworth reservoir embankment, Lostock.
During the day we responded to three serious snow sledging accidents, in the Lostock, Longsight Park and Daisy Hill areas, where we were able to use our specialist equipment and training to evacuate the casualties to the NWAS ambulances.
As all this was happening, our Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon in his own vehicle which was equipped with emergency lighting and medical equipment, plus an NWAS Paramedic/Operational Manager on board was utilised by NWAS (Manchester) as a Rapid Response Vehicle in its own right. They responded directly to six furhter incidents on top of the 20 incidents attended by the team membership.
In total 20 team members were involved in today's operations working in close harmony with directly attached NWAS Paramedics and NWAS Emergency road crews. Our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE coordinated the team's response throughout the day, working in very close direct liaison with NWAS (Manchester) Control room staff (not forgetting the assistance provided by Bolton MRT team member Chris Greenhalgh).
Thanks must be given to the General Manager of NWAS Ladybridge Hall, Anne El-Garidi who arranged for the grounds maintenance team of the NWAS HQ complex to clear the roads into and out of our base to ensure that the heavy snowfall did not hamper our access and egress.
Anne El-Garidi also arranged for catering for our team members at the Ladybridge NWAS HQ staff restaraunt (which was very much appreciated by the team membership!)
The 26 seperate incidents which overall are reported here under one overall incident number, plus of course the incidents which occurred earlier in the day and later in the evening, represent the busiest day ever in the 41 year history of this volunteer rescue team.
Throughout the day we met with fantastic support and very welcoming kind comments from all members of the public we came into contact with, particularly the casualties who all realised the difficult circumstances that we and our colleagues in NWAS were faced with.
Readers of our website will also appreciate that not only is this the busiest day in the team's history, it has undoubtledly been (to date) the busiest period in the team's history.
...also on Tuesday 5th... Incident 11/2010 At 00:20, at the conclusion of the previous incident, our Team Leader was contacted direct by NWAS (Manchester) Control for the team's assistance to recover an emergency ambulance stuck in deep snow in the Billinge area, in continuing heavy snowfall.
As no casualty was involved, and it was a simple vehicle recovery, our BM2 vehicle with team members Craig Lamb and Fred Taylor responded and utilising the vehicle winch managed to recover the ambulance back to better road conditions (nontheless this simple operation took two hours 40 minutes to complete).
Monday 4th January Incident 10/2010 At circa 23:11 our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE was contacted directly by the Team Leader of Rossendale & Pendle MRT, Andy Simpson, to pass on a job that their team had received whilst on standby to NWAS (Manchester), which was in the Bolton MRT's operational area.
A quick descision was made between the two team leaders over which team should attend, helped by the fact that during the conversation, RPMRT received a call to go to an incident on behalf of NWAS (Lancashire).
This incident involved an NWAS emergency ambulance stuck at the bottom of a steep road network on a housing estate in the Rainsough area of Prestwich.
The ambulance crew had been able to treat a male casualty with chest pains in his home address but could not drive their ambulance off the snowbound road to hospital.
Our Team Leader instigated a limited team member callout involving our BM2 and BM3 vehicles, our Deputy Leader and a response by our Team Leader.
In total 6 team members were involved in this incident which took place during very heavy snowfalls and involved the recovery of the emergency ambulance by our BM3 vehicle, during which time our BM2 vehicle transported the casualty, along with his wife and an NWAS paramedic in attendance to North Manchester General Hospital.
...also on Monday 4th... Cello ensemble raise money for the team Bob Buller, a musical colleague of team callout list member Mark Parry, recently contacted Mark, offering to raise money for the team.
Of course Mark promptly said "yes" to Bob's fundraising offer, and so on the 29th and 30th December 2009, the string trio of Bob Buller, Jill Jackson and Jerry Careston, who go by the name of the Chaconne Ensemble (click here to see their website) performed at the Millgate Shopping Centre in Bury, with an open cello case to collect donations from the passing shoppers.
The trio performed over the afternoon of the 29th December and all day on the 30th December, and a little over £200 was raised in total for the team.
The thanks of the entire team are expressed to all at the Chaconne Ensemble for their fantastic fundraising effort, and of course to all the shoppers at the Millgate Shopping Centre who donated their loose change to us.
Sunday 3rd January Donation arising from the Silver Wedding Anniversary of team member Mark Scott and his wife Megan On Friday 1st January 2010, team callout list member (and council officer) Mark Scott, and his wife Megan celebrated their Silver Wedding Anniversary by holding a walk up Rivington Pike, from their Horwich home, and then returning for hotdogs and mulled wine.
Mark and Megan kindly requested that in place of presents on their Silver Wedding Anniversary, that donations be made instead to Bolton Mountain Rescue Team.
We are very pleased to announce the kind receipt from Mark and Megan this evening of many donations totalling a generous £100.00.
The whole team wishes Mark and Megan a very happy Silver Wedding Anniversary and wishes them all happiness and good health for the next 25 years of happy marriage.
...also on Sunday 3rd... Incident 9/2010 At 15:44 our Team Leader was contacted directly by NWAS (Manchester) regarding the team's assistance with an ambulance stuck on icy road conditions whilst trying to access a casualty at a residential address in Bolton.
Fortunately as our members arrived on scene in two vehicles, with assistance the female casualty was able to walk to the emergency ambulance, which with care managed to get off the ice.
In total 9 Bolton MRT members and two team vehicles were involved in this incident.
...also on Sunday 3rd... Incident 8/2010 At circa 13:53 our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE was contacted direct by NWAS (Manchester) Control, requesting the team's assistance at a serious road traffic collision on the A6 Blackrod bypass (by Douglas Valley golf course).
Two vehicles had been in collision resulting in two male and two female casualties. GMP Officers were already on scene, and the team was the first emergency medical response to arrive on scene.
Team members from our BM2 and BM4 vehicles carried out casualty care on the injured adults and children, working together with an off-duty hospital nurse, an off-duty A&E nurse (whose car and family were involved in this incident), and an off-duty NWAS (Lancashire) Paramedic.
One male casualty was splinted on scene on a longboard and headblocks, oxygen was administered to one of the children involved.
Two NWAS (Manchester) Emergency ambulances attended (including ex-team member Iain Peel who is now an NWAS Emergency Medical Technician), along with an NWAS (Manchester) operational manager and an NWAS (Manchester) assistant operational manager.
Also in attendance were two GMP Traffic Units and GMP Divisional officers. All the casualties involved were transported to hospital by the two NWAS emergency ambulances.
During this incident the A6 Blackrod bypass was closed to traffic and thanks are given here to all the passers-by who stopped to assist and other drivers including a tractor driver who stopped to protect the scene.
In total 9 Bolton MRT members and two team Landrover ambulances were involved in this incident.
...also on Sunday 3rd... Incident 7/2010 At 13:07 today, with a small number of team members at our Ladybridge Hall base (cleaning vehicles), NWAS (Manchester) contacted the team by pager to request the team's assistance during a peak demand period with a call to a residential address in the Horwich area of Bolton.
Our BM2 vehicle was despatched with a crew of 3 and they stabilised a 74 year old male casualty on scene until the arrival of an NWAS ambulance which then transported the man to Royal Bolton Hospital.
Saturday 2nd January Kind donation from valued friend and supporter Miss Sheila Hart Today we are pleased to announce the receipt of a very kind £25 donation from Miss Sheila Hart of Lostock, Bolton.
Miss Sheila Hart has been a longstanding friend and valued supporter of the team and in a letter attached with her kind donation she mentions, "this donation is in admiration of the good work you all do for the people of Bolton and in the Rivington area also".
The whole team is very grateful to Miss Sheila Hart for her continuing and much appreciated support of the Mountain Rescue Team.
...also on Saturday 2nd... Donation from a member of the public. Today team member Mike Marsh received a £10 donation from a member of the public from Walkden.
All we can say is that it was given with '...grateful thanks for the work the team does...'
To our mystery donor, thank you very much from all the team membership.
...also on Saturday 2nd... Incident 6/2010 Today at 10:00 Hrs the Team was called out for a continuation of the previous day's search in Horwich, for a missing 58 year old male.
The main objective today was a re-tasking of areas done in failing light conditions yesterday, and also to search new areas.
13 Team members responded to this search, together with 4 members of the GMP TAU. 4 Team vehicles were deployed, together again with the Command, Control & Communications trailer which was set up in Lever Park Ave.
Two search areas on the previous day were re-searched, due to the better light conditions today. A further four new areas were designated of interest to the search investigation and a combination of Bolton MRT members and Bolton MRT / TAU members completed these.
Alas, at the time of ending today's search there is no new news to pass on and Police enquires are continuing with regards to the man's whereabouts.
Friday 1st January Very kind donation from Greater Manchester Police in relation to incident 93/2009 Today the team received a very kind letter of thanks from Chief Superintendant Steven Hartley, Bolton Divisional Commander, in relation to our major involvement in incident 93/2009, at High Rid reservior (when following a search, we sadly recovered the body of a missing dog walker from underneath the water of the ice covered reservoir)
Chief Superintendant Steven Hartley states in his letter, "I would like to pass on my personal thanks and that also of Greater Manchester Police in relation to the missing person search your team conducted on the 21st December 2009."
"The Bolton Mountain Rescue team, in hazardous weather conditions, provided a professional and well organised search of the High Rid area and reservoir. Once again please pass on my appreciation that you and your volunteers do all year round."
Enclosed with this letter is a very kind donation of £100 from Greater Manchester Police.
...also on Friday 1st... Assistance requested for a stuck vehicle So, whilst searching for a missing male & assisting the Ambulance service with the medevac of an injured walker. We also had a request to help a vehicle stuck on ice, which was carrying 2 care workers who had just finished visiting an elderly lady.
So we sent 4 team members and a Team vehicle to help. On arrival at the scene we found a small hatchback was well and truly stuck on an incline and was unable to move. With a bit of brute force - ie person power - we managed to push the car uphill!! and onto better grip, the car was then turned round and pointing downhill to their exit.
The three occupants expressed their gratitude for the help and we passed them the Deputy Team Leaders phone number in case they got stuck again!!
...also on Friday 1st... Incident 5/2010 Whilst out on Incident 4/2010, NWAS (Manchester) paged the Team for assistance with a young person who had fallen on the slopes of Rivington Pike.
4 Team members (who had just completed a search area) were immediately dispatched from the search control RVP at Lever Park Avenue in Horwich to the incident site in a team vehicle. On arrival at the casualty site, they found a casualty with a lower leg injury. A splint was applied and pain killing gas was offered to the casualty.
The casualty was then packaged onto a Troll Alphin MR stretcher and carried to the Team's nearby vehicle. The casualty was then transported to the NWAS ambulance further down George's Lane (which was unable to drive close to the Pike due to the snow conditions), which then took the casualty to hospital.
The Team members involved in this incident then carried on with the search for the missing male, happy that the search controllers gave them a search area near to the incident site so that they didn't have to travel too far!
...also on Friday 1st... Incident 4/2010 At 11.56 this morning, Greater Manchester Police paged the Team requesting our assistance with a developing search in the Horwich area, for a missing 58 year old male.
The call was answered by Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon, and ongoing discussion between GMP & Geoff resulted in the Team being called out at 13.25 Hrs, for a search in the Horwich area. Specifically the team covered the areas known localy as Tigers Clough, also Wilderswood, and the banking of Lower Rivington Reservoir. Just as the first searchers were dispatched a cheeky voice was heard to say '..look it's snowing...' and yup, Sam was correct - the white stuff had started to fall again.
Search control.......
Search control was set-up in the bus turn round area on Lever Park Avenue, which was quite handy really as Deputy Team Leader Geoff's house was only a few metres away. Thanks must be made to the Seddon family for the numerous interuptions during the day as we brewed up and availed ourselves of the facilities.
The search was slightly interupted by NWAS requesting the Team for an incident in the vicinity of Rivington Pike, to which we dispatched 4 Team members and a team vehicle (see incident 5/2010 for details).
At the conclusion of the day's search nothing had been found and Police enquiries are continuing.
...Ged Clarke attempting to break ice on Lower Rivington Reservoir...
... Steve Fletcher, Ged's bankside safety man.
Attending this incident were the following resources:
16x Bolton MRT members,
consisting of one canoe search team.
4 Team vehicles
Control, Command & Communications Trailer
G.M.P. Search manager
G.M.P. Tatical Aid Unit
...also on Friday 1st... Incident 3/2010 As part of NWAS (GMA) pre arranged plan to cope with peak demand calls on this festive season early morning, the Team continued to directly assist NWAS (GMA) with ambulance calls throughout the early hours after already being on standby before midnight.
8 Team members mobilised to crew two team Landrover ambulances and our Base/HQ at Ladybridge Hall, with the vehicles placed at the disposal of NWAS (GMA) from 21:00 onwards.
Three jobs were tasked after midnight on this relatively quiet morning from 01:28 through to 04:33, all three being code Amber calls.
Our first call (at 01:28) involved the use of both team vehicles and six personnel, as we went to the assistance of a male who had fallen down a ditch and and badly fractured his leg. Due to some uncertainty over how he had come to be in the ditch, the male was treated for possible spinal injuries as well as the fractured leg.
The six team members were able to safely raise the man from the ditch on a long board, and he was then taken to Royal Bolton Hospital in one of the team's vehicles.
The second call, passed to the team by NWAS at 04:05, was to attend a pregnant woman whose waters had broken, in Great Lever, Bolton.
Somewhat fortunately for the team members responding, Mother Nature had finished the job just before our arrival, and a baby girl was born at 04:17 - our vehicle arrived at 04:21. We checked out mum and baby and awaited the arrival of far more experienced hands by way of the two midwives who came from Royal Bolton Hospital's maternity unit.
Both mum and baby were taken to the maternity unit in the team's Landrover ambulance, accompanied by a midwife.
The third and final job of the evening was passed to us by NWAS at 04:33 and involved a male (also in Great Lever) who had fallen, sustaining a head injury. He was also transported by team Landrover to Royal Bolton hospital for further treatment.
Grateful thanks were passed onto the team by the staff at NWAS Control for the assistance that was offered by the team on this traditonally very busy night.
