Darwen 999 Emergency Services Day 2013. Darwen Town Centre, Lancashire

Today the team was present yet again at this year’s Annual Darwen 999 Emergency Services Day.

This annual event, organised as ever by our friend PCSO Nick Gisicz at Darwen, aided by his colleague PCSO Mark Evans, aims to bring together every year all the Emergency Services operating in Darwen, and showcase them to the townsfolk of Darwen.

We had on show, all four of our specialist Mountain Rescue Land Rover Ambulance vehicles, our Ford Transit Minibus / Crewbus Ambulance and our still almost brand new VW Crafter Incident Control Vehicle (On its first public ‘show’ demonstration outing)

We also had on display our 3.5m Semi-Rigid Inflatable SAR Boat.

Team Call Out list members Equipment Officer (IT and Communications) Steve Fletcher, Ken Oakes, David Cook, John Dickinson, Tony Dawson, David Crawford, Stephen Kenworthy, Steve O’Hara and Chris Tennant were on hand, alongside Trainee Team members Michael Wakerley, Michael Eddleston and Chris Weatherhead, to answer the many questions asked of us by the large number of interested visitors, young and old alike, to today’s 999 Emergency Services Day.

Team Support Group member Iain Clarkson also attended, looking after our second hand book sales (All donations accepted).

Also in attendance today were displays and vehicles from Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service, Lancashire Constabulary, and the North West Ambulance service.

From the combined sales of second hand books and Bolton MRT wristbands, alongside our “Guess the name of the Meerkat” competition, Christmas card sales(!), and of course general donations, and with thanks to the good townsfolk of Darwen today and other visitors to Darwen, we are pleased to announce that we received a total of £139.79 in donations.

During the day we were visited by the Mayor of Darwen, Councillor Eileen Entwistle MBE, who was given a tour of our brand new Incident Control Vehicle (and other vehicles) and who asked many interesting questions about our work!

The team welcomes this opportunity every year to be invited to showcase and display all our vehicles and SAR equipment in Darwen at this always popular event, illustrating the voluntary search and rescue role we carry out within the local Darwen community.