Copeland Community Fund were kind enough to invite us to their event this week celebrating volunteers in Copeland at Whitehaven Golf Club, which saw 140 volunteers attending from many different volunteer organisations. At the dinner we were asked to use our craft skills to build something and so the obvious choice was a model of the new base. Here it is with Debs putting the final touches to the new base diorama with model casualty, Read more…
Only a week into the new build and things are starting to take shape on the ground. There is the outline of the new building, the car park and in the adjoining part of the field the ground is being prepared for the ground source heat pump array.
Great weather on the slopes of Middle Fell for crag training, albeit a little chilly on the Northern side of the Wasdale valley. The 3-station round-robin training session took in setting up belays, lowering systems and casualty handling on steep ground.
At the Baker Mallett offices in Westlakes last week, Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team signed a contract to build a purpose-designed new base near Gosforth in Copeland. This is the next step to bringing the new base concept to reality and follows an allocation from the Copeland Community Fund (CCF) of £218,043, earmarked funding from the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association (LDSAMRA) of £12,000 and an interest in land granted by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Read more…
Duty Team Leader Paul Cook has analysed last year’s incident statistics. You can read his report here.
2nd year apprentices from Energus made a donation of £351.58 to the team last month. Each year they select 3 charities to raise funds for, which they have been doing for the last 4 years. The cheque was presented by Abigail Elsworth, she was one of a 8 apprentices who got involved with the charity work this year,
The perched block at the top of Lords Rake has fragmented and is now in bits close to where it was stuck. There are some loose boulders where it was standing. The largest bit looks to be fairly well bedded into the scree. The rake itself is just as loose as ever.
Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team (WMRT) has today been informed that its application to the Copeland Community Fund for a significant proportion of the cost towards a new base for WMRT has been successful. It has taken a significant amount of work to achieve this funding, from team members and a number of personnel external to the team. Without this support, dedication, by all involved the funding application would not have been successful. So WMRT would Read more…
The team’s only remaining search dog, Ollie, died recently after a short illness. He was 9 years old. For at least the last 35 years the team has always had one or more search dogs, and between them, they have attended hundreds of searches in the team’s patch, Wasdale and Eskdale, as well as the rest of the Lake District, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Northern and Southern Scotland, including the air disaster at Lockerbie. The dogs were Read more…
British Championship Race From Wasdale Head Inn to the summit of Lingmell (and back) Entry lists updated with Race Numbers 17th July. Because of the sensitivity towards large Sporting events in the Wasdale Valley, we have limited the total number of runners to 350. Ladies race commences at 1:00 pm Mens race commences at 2.30 pm As usual, the race is a fundraising event in aid of Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team. The entry fee is Read more…
Thank you to all those who have donated to the team following the safe return of Adam Nolan’s dog Jasper. It is heart-warming to know that this level of support for the team is out there and we are very humbled with the level of funds that have been donated. This comes at a fortuitous time because the team is seeking to build a new base, which could cost up to £500,000 and we anticipate Read more…
After nearly 50 years in the village of Gosforth, Wasdale MRT is looking to move to a purpose-built facility close to the village. The current building is a converted forge and is restrictive in terms of space and functionality. It also relies on the goodwill of local residents and the local pub for parking and access. The new base will give the space for an increasing membership who now have more equipment such as swift Read more…
In the New Year honours, Mike Greene has been awarded an MBE for services to health and to the community in Whitehaven. On behalf of the team I would like to pass our congratulations onto him for all he has done for us in the team, the wider regional and national MR community and elsewhere. It is a great achievement.
Come and meet the team tomorrow (Saturday 30th November) in Whitehaven and Egremont as we raise funds for the team. We’d be happy to see you, answer questions and even happier to receive a donation! We look forward to meeting you there.
Thanks to Joe Beaumont and My Tri Events for £300 of fundraising. Joe suffered a major medical trauma in 2011 and the team was involved in his rescue. You can read about his road to recovery here www.joebeaumont.com.
Last Sunday the team joined with Cockermouth MRT to form a guard of honour at the recent Scotland – Italy match in the Rugby League World Cup. It was a fun afternoon/evening, which all members who attended enjoyed. Rousing anthems, a good match and nice to receive applause at the start of the match.
A big thank you goes to 1st Gosforth Scout Group who presented a cheque for £150 to the team after they had raised funds from baking cakes and other refreshments. Pictured are some of the scouts, team members and search dogs.
Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team members John and Sue Noake both recently completed their 40 years’ service in the team. The team is one of the busiest in the Lake District and they are pictured outside the team’s headquarters in Gosforth, Cumbria. Aside from being an absolutely magnificent achievement this is believed to be unique within mountain rescue to have a husband and wife both serve the community for this long. It has been a huge Read more…
The recent snow, coupled with strong winds has generated some almost unique winter conditions on the fells around Wasdale. It is rare to have so much snow as the Easter holidays approach. For the experienced this offers some intriguing opportunities for challenging mountaineering objectives, however, there are also hazards and it is important to consider these before venturing above the snow line. Many will be familiar with the need to carry an ice axe and Read more…