News

KSMRT searchers receive Christmas cheer
A few days before Christmas, whilst searching for a missing male, near the village of Witherslack, Kirkby Stephen team members were offered very welcome sustanance of tea and mince pies by local residents. Further details about the search can found on the 2011 page (no 24)


BBC Look North ask KSMRT to judge their montly photo competition

BBC Look North's Trai Anfield invited a panel of KSMRT members to judge the monthly photo competition which is a regular feature of the programme's weather presentation. After some debate the panel reached a decision and judged an excellent Northumbrian landscape as the best photo. The BBC team also filmed a demonstration of rescue kit and an interview with KSMRT team leader Arthur Littlefair.

Winter Skills Training in Scotland

Thirteen team members attended winter skills training over two weekends in the Glencoe area. Conditions ranged from sunshine and blue skies to blizzards and deep snow. A lot was learnt from both weekends and the team are now better equipped to deal with severe winter conditions in Cumbria.

Five new Swift Water Technicians for KSMRT.

5 team members recently qualified as Swift Water Technicians, completing a 3 day course involving a great deal of wild water swimming in subzero conditions. KSMRT now have 12 technicians and full equipment ready to assist in future flood events and water rescue.

KSMRT bids farewell to one of its search dog handlers

Dave Benson and Search Dog Moudy (on the right) have given great service to KSMRT and SARDA Lakes for several years. Dave is moving to Scotland to begin a new job as Safety Officer with Cairngorm Mountain Ltd the ski-lift operator. After a recent exercise the team expressed their appreciation of his time with us and wished him all the best for the future.

Simon raises £550 for KSMRT


Simon Cummins presenting a cheque for £550 to KSMRT leader Arthur Littlefair. Simon raised the money with a sponsored run in the London Marathon He is a signalman at Blea Moor the country's remotest signal box on the Settle to Carlisle line. The team are very grateful to Simon for his marathon effort.

Search dog Dynamite Retires



Aged 13, KSMRT search dog Dynamite goes into well earned retirement. She was the longest serving search dog with Sarda Lakes and had at least 4 finds in her career.

Off Road Driver training
As part of the extensive team training programme, KSMRT members are attending off-road training at Deepdale Offroad. New team members are training for the first time whilst more established team members are renewing skills.

WaterRescue



The recent floods have highlighted Cumbria's vulnerability to extreme weather events. In response KSMRT is increasing its number of trained Swift Water technicians from 4 to 12 and providing the extra specialised equipment needed to carry out search and rescue in floods. This is a big commitment as, apart from the training cost, the equipment for each technician will cost in excess of £400.

Events

KSMRT attend major RTA near Ravenstonedale.
On a wet January training night the team dealt with a simulated bus crash with many casualties some seriously injured. On this challenging evening, the team were assisted by the local fire service and first responders. The 'Friends of KSMRT' provided some very convincing casualties. Incidents on this scale have occured in the area and KSMRT have assisted in three major train crashes in the past 20 years.

KSMRT support 2012 Nine Standards Fell Race
The team again provided safety cover for the Annual New Year's day Fell race from Kirkby Stephen to the summit of Nine Standards Rigg in wet and slipperyconditions. Fortunately the race passed without incident and the teams services weren't required.


Navigation Training raises funds for the team.
KSMRT held a two day Navigation seminar in October. Apart from raisng funds for the team, these seminars are very effective in making people safer in the hills. The vent was well supported and raised more than £600 for KSMRT funds.

Kings Arms fund raising event
KSMRT express their gratitude to Jeff Scott and Janet Cross of the Kings Arms in Kirkby Stephen. Their very successful beer and live music event that took place on the weekend of the 29th of July raised £281 for KSMRT.

KSMRT gave support and rescue cover to the 2011 Yomp Mountain Challenge.
18 team members and 4 trainees were involved in the 29th Annual Yomp. Some taking part and others providing rescue and safety cover for the race. A total of 540 competitors took part over three different course. Conditions were challenging with high winds and driving rain for at least half of the event. No serious injury was sustained, however the team assisted a total of 6 people, suffering mild hypothermia and exhaustion, from the fell. A team Landrover was also able to assist a Classic Coach that had broken down after ferrying competitors to the top of Tailbridge Hill.


Award of Thanks to Westmoreland Services
On 11 May 2011 three local mountain rescue teams presented an ‘Award of
Thanks’ to Westmorland Ltd, in recognition of their long-standing support for the teams in the area. The leaders of Penrith, Kirkby Stephen and Kendal Mountain Rescue Teams presented the award to Sarah Dunning, Chief Executive and John and Barbara Dunning, founding directors. The award will be displayed in the southbound and northbound Tebay services on the M6.

The Wainwright Society makes a generous donation to KSMRT

Jenny Whalley and Martin Roberts of the Wainwright Society present a cheque for £1600 to Arthur Littlefair. The very generous donation was made from proceeds of the sale of the Society's Calendars. KSMRT,s and particularly David Stewart's website promotion of the Calendar resulted in 900 copies being sold. The Wainwright donation has funded the purchase of snow chains for all three of KSMRTs Land Rovers. Other teams in LDSAMRA also received donations

KSMRT cleans the church clock

KSMRT members responded to a request to clear plant growth that was threatening the operation of the clocks on the tower St Stephen's Church in the town. Four team members, who are experienced climbers, abseiled down the tower to remove the offending plant life.

Marathon Fundraisers


Three local people are going to great lengths (26.2 miles) to raise money to help KSMRT. Simon Cummings, who works the remote Blea Moor Signal box on the Settle to Carlisle line, will run the London Marathon on April 25th. Simon will be sponsored in aid of KSMRT. On the same day, Ken and Kathy Trimmer will run 26.2 miles around the 16 parishes of Upper Eden to raise money for the team and also for the Air Ambulance and First Responders.

www.coldkeld.com/marathon.htm