Mountain Rescue in the Peak District
Mountain rescue in the Peak District took many years to develop to its present standard.
In the 1930's a party of doctors and surgeons were climbing on Laddow Rocks. One fell and was evacuated on a 5-barred gate, because there was no appropriate stretcher, with the help of the local water bailiff and gamekeeper. This was judged to have set his recovery back 3 months! This incident led to the formation of the "Stretcher Committee" by the various national & Manchester based climbing clubs. A report in 1935 described a suitable mountain rescue stretcher, called the "Thomas" after its designer and manufacturer. The report also detailed the material and equipment that should be available for mountain accidents. Suitable equipped Mountain Rescue Posts were then established at key locations.
In 1942 an RAF Maintenance Unit, based at Harpur Hill in Buxton, began to receive regular calls to assist with the recovery of aircraft crews, which had crashed in the local hills. Out of necessity a small team started to evolve led by the Station Medical Officer. It had no previous experience and no special equipment. However, the team developed and by 1944 its successes, along with those at other RAF sites at Llandwrog & Millom, were being noticed by the RAF. The RAF was so impressed that it copied the idea in other areas and formally established the RAF Mountain Rescue Service. The team at Harpur Hill continued to operate until 1960, when the station closed. It transferred to RAF Stafford, from where it continues to provide a service.
The formation of the National Park in 1951 and the opening of access on to Kinder Scout and other upland moorlands saw something of an explosion in the number of visitors into the Edale valley. The National Park's Warden Service was established in 1954 and part of its duties was to assist in rescue incidents. A rescue post was established at the Nag's Head in 1955 under the watchful eye of the landlord, Fred Herdman. Volunteers from the paid and voluntary wardens were the basis of the current Edale MRT. Its first formal exercise was held in February 1956. The Warden Briefing Centre, at Fieldhead, Edale opened in 1959. The rescue post was transferred from the Nag's Head to its current home and the resident warden, George Garlick, became leader of the Edale team.
Elsewhere in the Peak, civilian rescue was not so well-organised. In the early 1950s Rover Scout units were the main providers of a rescue service and many teams were formed, including units in New Mills and Glossop. There was little co-ordination between the teams and the call-out methods were primitive.
In the early 1960s, three tragic events were to take place that would show the inadequacies and lack of organisation of rescue teams in the area.
In December 1962 two young children were reported missing from their home in Glossop. The children were aged seven and eleven and as news of the event broke, hundreds of volunteers descended on Glossop. The search parties included school children and scouts and it was a fourteen-year-old who eventually discovered the bodies five days later.
During the 1963 bad winter, two climbers were killed in an avalanche in Wilderness Gully Chew Valley.
On Saturday 14th March 1964 the 51st Derby Rover Scouts had organised the annual Four Inns Walk from Holmbridge to Buxton. The weather forecast had been "showers & fine intervals" whereas it deteriorated from the start to increasingly heavy rain and strong winds. Three Rover Scouts aged 19, 21 and 24 perished in those conditions. The youngest missed the route and strayed into the upper reaches of the Alport Valley where he collapsed due to exhaustion. The Glossop Rover Crew Mountain Rescue Team, who provided the rescue cover for the event, brought him down to Alport Castles Farm.. He was taken to hospital but died later. The other two Rover Scouts were in a separate team of three who also lost their way and finished up in the Alport valley One member of their party was located in the Alport and taken to safety but he was unable to give any accurate information about where his friends were. Because of the worsening weather, the search had to be called off during the night, but it was resumed on Sunday morning. However, it was not until Monday afternoon that the first body was recovered. By Tuesday, 370 people were involved with the search and the second body was recovered later that morning.
Following this last tragedy it was realised that the searches could be better organised and that improved methods of coordinating search parties were required. . A meeting of "interested parties" was held at Buxton Police Station on the 24th September 1964. Forty-eight people attended and a search control panel was established. . The notion of a Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation was born.
Between 1964 and 1971 a lot of work was needed to rationalise and improve the standards of the local teams. At a meeting in March 1965, twenty rescue teams were represented and included many names like Sett Valley MRT, Goyt Valley MRT and Barnsley MRT; names which have now gone. An exercise was organised in 1971 that involved twelve teams and 240 people..
The clothing worn by the many volunteers was of inadequate standard. The equipment was equally lacking; the joint efforts of the twelve teams produced only nine stretchers and three of these belonged to one team. The debrief called for a big shake-up and reorganisation and it was this meeting that resulted in the foundation of Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation as we know it today.
The following years saw many teams dissolve or amalgamate with others. Standards of operation were set for teams and the original search panel became the Incident Controllers' Panel of today. Now there are seven rescue teams and together with a group of search dog handlers in the Peak District.
The Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation (P.D.M.R.O.) is affiliated to the Mountain Rescue Council of England and Wales as the regional body covering the mountain rescue teams in the area. The prime objectives of the P.D.M.R.O. are to save life and alleviate distress, primarily in Upland and Mountain areas.
In addition the organisation:
If you are interested and want to find out more then contact the P.D.M.R.O. Secretary by email at secretary@pdmro.org.uk who will put you in touch with the team nearest to your home.
