Multi-Agency Rescue

The team were called out on Friday (5th March) to Thor’s Cave in the Manifold valley to help rescue a man who fallen 50ft down a precipitous slope after falling off the path whilst descending from the cave.

The man, in his fifties, had been out walking with his wife when the accident happened. They had visited the popular local attraction and were making their way back down to the valley floor when he stumbled and fell from the path down a steep slope, coming to a rest against a tree 50 ft above the river and sustaining injuries to his ribs, wrist, face and head

In a multi service rescue, seventeen members of the Derby team were called along with a Wetton & Alstonfields Community First Responder, police officers, two WMAS ambulance crews and a WMAS incident controller, Derbyshire Fire Service, Staffordshire Fire Service, including their specialist Rope Rescue Unit, the Hazardous Area Response Team and two air ambulances from the Midlands Air Ambulance and the Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance services. Over 30 people were involved in the rescue, made difficult by the very steep terrain and loose earth in at the incident site

When the team arrived on scene after being called out at 13:45, the ambulance and fire service had already reached the casualty and had put him into a scoop stretcher ready for evacuation and were awaiting the specialist rescue teams. DMRT members arrived on site and transferred the casualty to their rescue stretcher and were then able to carry the stretcher to the valley floor, aided by a rope system. The casualty was then carried across the river to be transferred to hospital by helicopter

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Pay It With Flowers

The Mickleover Floral Art Group have raised £1000 for local charities during the last year and on Tuesday night (9th December) presented the team with a cheque for £500.

The money had been raised by the 60 strong group by means of a “penny box” at their monthly meetings, selling produce from the chairman’s allotments, selling pickles made by the group treasurer from the chairman’s produce and by various other charity nights held throughout the year.

Chairman Robin Cobb and vice-chairman Carol Beard, presented the cheque to the team’s fundraising officer, Robin Goodchild at the start of the group’s annual general meeting, held at a packed St. Johns Church Hall in Devonshire Drive.

A second cheque for £500 was presented to the Derby and District Talking Newspaper Association, who provide audio tapes of newspapers for the blind and partially sighted.

City Centre Collection

Last weekend (Saturday 14th November), the team took to the streets of Derby city centre as part of their annual public awareness and fund-raising day.

With the team's vehicles and giant climber mascot situated at points along St Peters Street and team members and supporters located at points all across the city centre, the team collected £3130 during the course of the day.

The team would like to thank all those who contributed and also those supporters who came along to help the team on the day.

Thorpe Search

The team were called out to Thorpe, near Dovedale, in the early hours of Saturday morning (10th October) to search for a missing 21 year old vulnerable woman.

Police had contacted the team after receiving information that the woman was located somewhere in the vicinity of Thorpe Pasture. Team members were alerted by pager just before midnight on Friday and assembled at Thorpe Car Park to begin the search. The team managed to make contact with the missing person by mobile phone and started to search nearby hills when a light alerted rescuers to Hamston Hill, where the woman was located. Although cold, she was relatively unhurt, but was examined by a team paramedic and doctor before being evacuated by stretcher to a team Land Rover at the bottom of the hill. She was then transported to the road, where she was transferred to an EMAS (East Midlands Ambulance Service) ambulance and taken to the Royal Derby Hospital to be checked over.

Fourteen members of the team were involved in the search, with more members turning back whilst en route when the team were stood down once the woman had been located.

If the shoe fits....keep it on

The team were called out to Thorpe Cloud near Dovedale on the 2nd October in order to rescue a stranded walker.

A 74 year old man had walked up the popular local hill but had got into difficulty near the top when he reached the steeper slopes. He had been wearing unsuitable footwear and had found that he had insufficient grip for the terrain. In an attempt to improve his grip, he had removed his shoes but found that it was still too difficult to go forward. He then attempted to remove his socks to see if that helped but unfortunately dropped his shoes which rolled down the hill, leaving him unable to progress in any direction.

Thirteen members of the volunteer emergency services responded to his call for assistance as well as the DLRAA (Derbyshire Leicestershire & Rutland) Air Ambulance. The DLRAA helicopter was able to drop two of it’s crew on the hill top whilst rescue team members ascended from below.

The man was found to be uninjured and was walked off the hill with the support of the air ambulance crew and rescue team members. His shoes were never located.

A team spokesman said: “This situation just goes to show how important it is to have suitable footwear when walking on the hills. Luckily on this occasion the man was not injured, but falls and injuries are only too common in this type of situation”.

Cathedral Abseil

This weekend (September 26/27), the team held it’s sponsored abseil from the historic tower of Derby Cathedral. Over the two days, 157 abseilers took the plunge (not literally – they all went down at a safe pace!), raising over £25,000 in pledges which will be shared between the rescue team and Derby Cathedral Chapter.

The weather held out for the event and there was little wind making for ideal conditions for those taking part. On the Saturday, the Mayor of Derby, Councillor Sean Marshall was one of the early descenders followed shortly afterwards by the High Sheriff of Derbyshire, Sir Henry Every and his 3 sons. They were accompanied on the ground by Miss England 2008, Laura Coleman, who came along to support Sir Henry and his family.

Later entrants included Howard Ebison from BBC TV’s The Apprentice and Jean Martin, a disabled grandmother and sufferer of cerebral palsy who, despite requiring the use of two sticks to walk, managed to climb all 212 feet and 190 steps of the tower to make her descent, landing to rapturous applause from the assembled supporters and onlookers.

On the Sunday, one of the first abseilers was Canon Elaine Jones, who made her descent shortly after the morning service, still dressed in her cassock. Despite initial trepidation, she overcame her fears and bravely took the “scenic” route down, accompanied by the cheers of her congregation.

Perhaps the most audible abseiler was lifestyle coach Jody Bunting from Channel 4’s Big Breakfast. Jody could be heard over half of Derby as he descended the tower resplendent in a fluorescent pink skin-tight jump suit and gigantic white furry boots.

Despite the fact that over 150 people made the descent, the vast majority of whom were complete novices, team members were very rarely required to assist with participants getting into difficulty on the way down. When team members did assist, it was more to offer support and advice rather than rescue. All abseilers made it to the bottom under their own control, although a safety rope under the control of the team was attached at all times ensuring their complete safety.

For the team, it was a hectic weekend with abseils scheduled to take place every 4 minutes but thanks to excellent coordination, everything ran smoothly.

We’d like to say a big thank you to all abseilers and their sponsors for making the weekend the huge success that it was.

The team's Facebook page will shortly contain an album of photos from the weekend once all photos have been collated and a suitable selection chosen.