The Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue Team
 Contact
Details:
Paul Durham
Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue
Smelt Mill Cottages
Nr Dunsop Bridge
Trough of Bowland
Tel. 07764 379116 (fund raising & events)
In an emergency, dial 999 and ask for Police
Mountain Rescue.
e-mail: webmaster@bowlandpenninemrt.org.uk
website: www.bowlandpenninemrt.org.uk
Bowland Pennine MRT provides 365-day Mountain Search
and Rescue services in both the rural and urban districts of Lancashire,
and beyond when assisting other teams. A registered charity, it
has around sixty volunteers and it covers a very large area - the
Cumbria border in the North, the Fylde coast to the West; East to
the A59, and South to the West Pennine Moors.
 A
very important part of the team’s activities is that of education.
Its members regularly give talks on first aid and mountain safety
to organisations or groups of individuals, and it works with members
of the Bowland Experience to demonstrate its work and to arrange
special fund raising events.
Mountain Search and Rescue began in Lancashire
and the North West in the early 1960’s with the formation
of South Ribble Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) and Northern Rescue Organisation.
Both Teams were based around Preston, and in 1980 they amalgamated
to form Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue Team.
 The
last few years have seen a considerable increase in the number of
requests by Lancashire Police for assistance in non-mountain or
open country environments. These requests have included searching
for elderly, confused or potentially suicidal people, or searching
snow-bound roads for stranded motorists. In addition to the Police,
the team is regularly asked to provide cover for the Ambulance Service
during periods of particularly bad weather, its work load increasing
proportionally to the depth of snow falling.
 The
team's headquarters is at Smelt Mill Cottages, from where it has
been operating since 1980. However, in order to help improve response
times in certain parts of the region, the team is also hoping to
establish an additional base close to the M6 motorway. Significant
additional funding will be required for this, and so the team welcomes
any approaches from individuals, commercial or group sponsors.
The team's website
has details of its plans for the new base and a list of forthcoming
fund-raising events. The website also contains a wealth of information
about mountain safety, incident reports and useful links to other
rescue services.
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