100,000 volunteer rescuer–hours 2011 persons assisted
2019 was a busy summer for peak time TV coverage of mountain rescue, with several MREW teams appearing on ITV’s Rescue: River Deep, Mountain High series. The eight-part series featured a range of mountain rescue teams from England and Ireland along with Cairngorm MRT from Scotland, Humber Rescue and the Irish Tow Surf Rescue Club.
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fundraising in Lancashire, members of our team — which wasn’t featured in the series — heard from the public how they enjoyed the series and liked seeing what we do. It was a real boost for our day and we’ve joked about having an ‘As seen on TV’ sign up next time!’ The last word goes to Mike Potts of Kinder MRT: ‘The series was a fantastic showcase for our work and the response on social media was overwhelming. It’s
featured the rescue of a lost walker on Dove Crag. The final incident was a complicated winter rescue of one of Patterdale’s own, Ed Dowcra, after he fell from an ice climb. ‘That particular rescue also involved Penrith and Kirkby Stephen teams,’ says Mike Rippon, Patterdale team leader, ‘and the Go-Pro footage clearly showed the challenges of stretchering a badly injured casualty on steep ground in
Broadcast nationally, at peak time on Friday evenings, the series used Go-Pro and similar video footage from actual incidents plus follow-up interviews to tell a range of stories. ‘We became aware of the fantastic work of the volunteer rescue teams from a story we saw from Kinder MRT,’ says series producer and director at Goldhawk Media, Bernadette Bos. ‘We made contact via MREW and others and found that there was a lot of material available. Once we started collating the Go-Pro footage — some of it night time situations and a lot in ghastly weather conditions — we were astounded and deeply moved by the generosity, heroism and tenacity. To be honest, I was moved to tears seeing the struggles, the time it took to rescue unfortunate climbers and walkers, and to see the gratitude and relief of those who were rescued. I admire all the rescue teams greatly.’ At least one Peak District team, usually Kinder, Buxton or Edale, was featured in each programme and Dr Steve Rowe of Edale MRT appreciated the opportunity to take part. ‘It’s fantastic that we were able to share our work, done at all hours of day and night, in all weathers, and not seen by the public,’ says Steve. ‘This series demonstrated the real human stories behind our rescues and the challenges we face. That we have such a provision of voluntary rescue is a real testament to all those individuals involved, and their families, friends and employers.’ Patterdale MRT from the Lake District featured in three programmes: the first showed a rescue on the Howtown side of Ullswater and involved the team’s Rigid Inflatable Boat while a second
been great to show people what we do and how we do it, and to get across the message that this level of professionalism and dedication is provided by entirely unpaid volunteers. ‘Thanks to Berny and her team at Goldhawk for the work they’ve put into this. We continue to film our call-outs in the hope of a future series!’
winter conditions. The Goldhawk crew interviewed Ed for the programme and it was great to see him looking well and talking about being on the receiving end of rescue.’ The series did a good job of promoting mountain rescue as a whole to a wide audience. As Peter Shanahan of Bowland Pennine MRT commented: ‘During
Opposite and above: Screen grab of Patterdale team members in action, courtesy of Goldhawk Media.
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