Charity concert not deterred by weather

Duffield concert a success for the team

On Saturday (21st June) a charity concert, due to be held in the grounds of the Bishop of Derby’s house in Duffield, was moved indoors to the nearby Methodist Church after poor weather forced a last minute change of plan for the outdoor event.

Despite the rain, over 100 people still attended the concert, organized by the Derby Mountain Rescue Team to raise funds for the Duffield based emergency service. Guests included the Mayor of Derby, Barbara Jackson, David Coleman, the former Derbyshire Chief of Police and current President of the Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation and the Duffield Carnival Princess, Katie Burke and her attendees.

The concert, compered by Andy Potter from BBC Radio Derby, featured the Ilkeston Brass and the Duffield Singerw, two popular local groups who played a varied repertoire both separately and together.

The event was hailed as a great success and raised over £600. The money will be used to fund the running costs of the team, a registered charity which is entirely funded by public donations, and will also contribute towards the two appeals that the team are currently running for a new headquarters and for replacement team waterproof jackets.

Central TV follow the team during 4Inns

Derby Team provide support to the 4Inns scouting event - a competition walk over some of the most challenging terrain of the Peak District.

During the 2008 event, Central TV came along to see the work of the team - watch it here...

Our thanks go to Eve Jackson and ITV for their kind permission to show this film.

Busy weekend for rescue team

Derby mountain rescue called to five incidents over weekend

It was one of the busiest weekends for the Derby Mountain Rescue Team, being called out to three incidents on Saturday with a further two on Sunday.

The first callout occurred early on Saturday afternoon, when the team was called to evacuate a climber at Black Rocks, near Cromford. The 14 year old male had passed out whilst climbing and needed to be evacuated by the team to a waiting air ambulance.

Whilst the team were still at Black Rocks, they were made aware from the police on scene of a missing person, believed to be in the vicinity. The team then carried out a search of the surrounding area for the 29 year old woman but the search was called off after an hour when the woman called home.

Whilst the team were returning to the base vehicles after the search operation had been stood down, the third callout took place when a climber on nearby Harboro Rocks fell to the ground as his hold came away. The team rushed to the scene to evacuate the casualty, who had a possible lower spine injury, to another waiting air ambulance.

The following Sunday, the fourth callout of the weekend took place when the team responded to a Nottinghamshire Police request to search for a 56 year old male, who had gone missing from a Worksop care home 2 weeks earlier. After an extensive search of the surrounding area, with the team being supported by the police, the mounted police, a specialised search dog, a police helicopter, members of Derby, Buxton and Edale Mountain Rescue teams and concerned members of the public, the body of the missing man was located in dense woodland nearby.

Whilst taking part in the search, the fifth and final callout of the weekend took place when a walker was injured at Youlgrave and the teams’ assistance was requested. The 54 year old female had fallen down some steps onto barbed wire, suffering deep lacerations as a result. With the majority of the team deployed in Worksop, the team called on the assistance of the Buxton Mountain Rescue Team to help in the evacuation of the casualty to a waiting road ambulance.

Nic Berry, chairman of the Derby team said. “All in all, it was a hectic time for our members, who had to cancel any plans they might have had for the weekend, but that’s the nature of being permanently on call, you just have to respond when needed, at any time of the day or night. We’re grateful to our families for understanding this”.

Cannock Chase search for rescue team

Derby Mountain rescue team search for missing person

On Tuesday evening at 18:56 hrs (15th April, 2008), Derby Mountain Rescue Team were called out to search for a missing person after Staffordshire police received details of a distress call from a 49 year old female earlier that afternoon. Police traced the phone signal to the Cannock area and called out the Derby team to help locate the woman as she was believed to be somewhere in the vast woodland area of Cannock Chase in Staffordshire.

Eighteen members of Derby Mountain Rescue Team , along with 2 SARDA (Search and Rescue Dogs Association) search dogs and a helicopter from the West Midlands and Staffordshire Police Air Support Unit joined in the search in the heavily wooded area. The helicopter made a possible sighting at 9pm and a police officer and rescue team members located the woman 20 minutes later. She was treated on the scene by team members for a lower leg injury and cold before being evacuated to a waiting ambulance to be taken to hospital for further treatment.

Other rescue team members still en route to the incident, were stood down once the woman was located. The incident took place some distance from the headquarters of the Derby based team, but the volunteers that make up the team are often called out to incidents far from their homes or places of work.

Derby Mountain Rescue Team called out to stranded race competitors

Derby Mountain Rescue Team were called to the aid of a struggling team taking part in the annual 4 Inns Walk on Saturday (5th April). The team of 3 had got into difficulty when one of their members lost her shoe in the treacherous peat bogs of Black Hill, preventing the team from being able to continue over the hazardous terrain. The situation was made more difficult as heavy snowfall forced the team to take cover in their emergency shelter and call for mountain rescue support.

The Derby rescue team, who were providing cover for the event, were immediately able to dispatch a small party of rescue team members with a replacement set of footwear onto the hill to search for the stranded competitors as visibility deteriorated. The trio were found safe and well and escorted off the hill to a waiting vehicle. Unfortunately, the conditions were such that one of the replacement shoes was also lost in the mud on the return journey and a plastic equipment bag had to be converted into an improvised replacement to enable the woman to be able continue to the roadside.

The 4 Inns Walk is of particular significance to Derby Mountain Rescue, as it was the tragic death of 3 Rover Scouts taking part in 1964 that led to the foundation of the team. The team has provided rescue support for the event ever since. The walk takes place over 45 miles of the most difficult terrain in the Peak District and is open to 3 or 4 person teams of Scouts, hill walkers and fell runners. 90 teams took part in Saturday’s event.