Incidents 21 and 22/2012 – search for vulnerable missing man, Scout Moor, Edenfield

Simon — Sun, 06 May 2012 20:34:15 +0000

The Team were called out by Lancashire Police to assist with the search for a 65 year old man who was suffering from dementia but otherwise was very fit. The man had left home to go for a run at 14:30 in the Scout Moor area, but by 1730 he had still not returned. The Police were called by his wife at 19.30, and the Team was turned out at 2034.

Manchester seen from Scout Moor

A night time search was mounted of the areas where he was known to run on the moor, covering all the footpaths and other places it was likely he could have been. 20 Team members turned out to work alongside Lancashire Police in searching a large area of open moorland. At 0230 the search was called off for the night, as there would be be a better chance of sighting the man in daylight.

A quick cup of tea then back to the search

At 0800 on Bank Holiday Monday the search resumed, and further areas were checked. A civilian helper found the man at Upper Naden Reservoir; he was found to have fallen down a 100ft slope and sustained a fracture of the lower leg and head injuries. Two Team vehicles were despatched to scene with Team members. The man was stretchered to a waiting helicopter and flown to Wythenshawe hospital for treatment.

Team members: 25

Team hours: 253

Incident 20/2012 – night time search for vulnerable missing from home, Clitheroe

Simon — Fri, 04 May 2012 03:01:30 +0000

Lancashire Police called on the Team to assist with the search for an 86 year old man who was reported missing from a care home in Clitheroe. The man was in the initial stages of dementia, and there was great concern for his safety. He was last seen by staff at the care home at 17:30 that day; he was reported missing to the Police at 23:00.

The Police helicopter made an initial search with negative results.

The Team deployed in several areas and footpaths near the care home to try and search the most obvious directions of travel and possible locations for him. Just as the search was being wound up at 07:30, the Police received a 999 call to the Cement Works. The man had been found there, having walked there then he had spent the night lain there.

Team members: 14

Team hours: 42

The Gisburn Adventure Challenge rides again! Now with results!

Simon — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:24:17 +0000

RPMRT’s newest event, the Adventure Challenge, had its second birthday this Saturday in Gisburn forest.

If you haven’t come across this sort of event before, it’s a mix of mountain biking, orienteering, and offroad running. Entrants have five hours to complete up to 28 scored checkpoints cunningly located around the splendid venue that is Gisburn forest. Just to add to the mix, this year there were no less than three extra mystery challenges to give the entrants the chance to score extra points.

: Keep on running…

Gisburn forest is well known for its mountain bike routes, and some of the checkpoints were based on both the red and blue mountain bike routes around the forest. However the forest has some less visited corners, where there are remains of farm buildings that were there before the forest was laid down, and the entrants found that there was a lot more to the area than is usually seen from the popular routes. Some of the foot orienteering checkpoints have probably not had a human visitor since the forest was planted out.

On yer bike! After two hours running it's time to pedal.

Some checkpoints were easy to find – but many were navigational challenges and some were about as far away from the start as we could contrive. And just in case people didn’t feel at home with navigation, one of the three challenges was a micronavigation course run by George from the Pendle Forest Orienteers. This is the right place to thank the Pendle Forest Orienteers for the massive help they have been on this event; not only did they lend us their Sport Ident electronic checkpoint gear, Andy and Gillian capably dealt with all the techno wizardry that gave people their scores as soon as they had finished. If you have been worrying about your own ability to navigate – why not give orienteering a go with them? Here is their website: the PFO.

Another part of the fun challenges was the ever popular “how many milk crates can you climb”, and new this year, a slackline walk over some of Gisburn’s smelliest swamp. Luckily it seems no one splashed in too badly! Part of the usual RPMRT welcome was a stack of bacon and sausage barms plus tea and coffee, then at the finish, cake cake and more cake. If you thought sports like this were only for the ultra health conscious then you’d be slightly wrong.

The final challenge (as if the entrants needed any more!) was the Eco Challenge set by the course planner. We’re very lucky that the Forestry Commission allow us all free use of amenities like Gisburn, but it’s always annoying to see litter and empty bottles left around. There are no litter pickers out there, so the challenge was to see how many bottles and bits of litter entrants could retrieve in exchange for the chance to win a bottle of champers. We ended up with a sack with nearly 100 empty drinks bottles in, and two lucky entrants went home with a bottle of fizz. So that’s our way of saying thank you to Martin from Gisburn forest for the use of the forest - and we’re happy to say we left it tidier than when we turned up.

Champion litter pickers with 26 bottles! The course setter enjoys a microsleep...

We took a lot of pics that day – they’re all on line to look at here: lots and lots of pictures If you see one of yourself and you want a full size version to print for the lavatory wall or to send to your granny, drop Simon a line at nomisnotlaw@aol.com and he’ll send you a full size file free gratis and for nothing. Simon’s also trying to upload a video bootmash of all the pics – sorry if it won’t play but he’s working on it.

RESULTS STOP PRESS RESULTS! (added Monday 23 April)

As this was a challenge event and not a race due to our insurance restrictions, the following spreadsheet lists the entrants in alphabetical order. You’re all winners anyway!

Gisburn adventure challenge results

Many thanks for your support – we hope you enjoyed it enough to tell your friends and to come back in 2013 when we may be using Lee Mill Quarry as a new location. Take care!

Incident 18/2012 – possible angina attack, Wycoller

Simon — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:28:20 +0000

The Team was paged after it was reported a man had collapsed at Wycoller possibly from a heart attack or angina attack.

On arrival the casualty had been walked down to a footpath by his companions. He was fully conscious, and as he suffered from angina, he had taken used his GTN spray to selfmedicate. As he could then be treated by the NWAS crew but the casualty refused transport to hospital.

Team members: 13

Team hours: 32.5

Incident 17/2012 – teenager with a possible spinal injury, Blackburn

Simon — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:30:15 +0000

A 14 year old boy had fallen from a tree onto a canal embankment. The height of the fall was about 15ft and the boy was complaining of back pain. Due to his injuries and the potential for spinal injuries, the NWAS crew on scene requested Helimed for evacuation. Becasue of where the boy had fallen, the Team was paged to evacuatehim on spinal board and Bell stretcher to the Helimed helicopter.

Team members: 9

Team hours: 9

A thankyou from the Rotary Club of Colne

Simon — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 08:51:45 +0000

We do quite a lot of evening talks to various societies around the area – Rotary clubs, Soroptimists and also Scout groups. Here’s a letter of thanks from the Colne branch of the Rotary club.

“Many thanks to you and your colleague Mark for taking the time to visit our club and deliver a most interesting and entertaining talk on the roles of the mountain rescue organisation. Your presentation proved to be one of the very best that we have had, and as I joked to you on the night, the yardstick for an excellent presentation is the number of questions asked afterwards and your talk generated an all time record of questions and was a runaway success.

One of the main points that came across was the way in ivhich all your member:, selflessly gave their time for free and put the safety of others as paramount importance, and were prepared to go out in all conditions when called. The rotary motto of “Service Before Self can equally be applied to jour own organisation and as such deeply associated yourselves with the principles of the Notary movement.

followingyour presentation talk our members felt that the Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue was a truly outstanding organisation serving the heal area and one most worthy of support and unanimously agreed to provide a small donation to assist with your running costs.

I have enclosed a cheque to help with funding. Please pass on our regards to your colleague Mark and hopefully we will be meeting up with yourselves and your colleagues in the immediate future. On behalf of the Club I wish you all the best for the future.

Best wishes from all at Colne Noyna”

We also need to say a very big thankyou for the £500 donation towards Team funds – that was really very kind!

Incident 16/2012 – a fallen horse rider in the Asworth Moor area

Simon — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:30:49 +0000

A female horse rider had fallen from her horse. NWAS were in attendance but could not move the casualty to their ambulance as she was away from the road. The Team attended and moved the casualty using a protective vacuum mattress in case of spinal injury, and also the Bell stretcher to allow a cross country carry.

Team members: 13

Team hours: 13

Incident 15/2012 – assisting Bolton MRT in a search in the Leigh area

Simon — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:30:21 +0000

The Team was asked to assist Bolton MRT who in their own turn were assisting Greater Manchester Police in the search for a vulnerable male in his early twenties. The male had attempted suicide on a number of occasions previously, and the Police required help in searching open ground.

Team members: 3

Team hours: 18

Thanks to Slimming World in Haslingden!

Simon — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 09:30:18 +0000

Many thanks to the members of Slimming World in Haslingden. RPMRT was their nominated charity for 2011, and together they have raised £500 for us. The cheque was handed over last weekend, and we would just like to say thankyou for this helpful donation which will keep us rolling in 2012! We have to agree – you’re amazing!

If you want to know more about them, look them up at http://www.slimmingworld.com/

Peers Clough farm supporting RPMRT – update

Simon — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:54:08 +0000

***UPDATE***

Chris has announced there’s now over 30 riders signed up to take part in this. Magnificent!

Some of you may not know but the Mary Towneley Loop will be ten in 2012. Although it may be known to many mountain bikers though our September MTL in a day event, the vision of Mary Towneley was actually for a bridleway for horse riders. The Pennine Bridleway was the result, and the MTL was also created in her honour.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary Chris Thomas and other riders from Peers Clough farm near Waterfoot will be riding the Loop over five days and getting sponsored to do so. One of the charities who will benefit from this ride will be ourselves. We’ll update you all closer to the event, and we may well be accompanying the riders on some of the route, although the Team leader refuses to get on a pony.

If you want to know more about the farm and the facilities it provides for riders on the Mary Towneley Loop, you can see more here: Peers Clough Packhorses

If you would like direct access to Chris’ Justgiving page you’ll find it here: Chris Thomas and Justgiving

You’ll note that on her Justgiving page Chris says they are donating to RPMRT on the basis that they never know when they might need us. Not that we wish to scare anyone, but we had a call out in November 2011 for a horse rider who’d taken a tumble, so thanks for your donation, we just hope you never have to bank your investment!

Chris, the Team, the girls, the ponies.