Oldham Mountain Rescue Team: A History part 2

This year the Oldham Mountain Rescue Team is celebrating its 50th anniversary of helping people across the community.

Here, the team looks back at its colourful history from 1997 to present. (Read Part 1 here).

IN 1997 we were still operating with a single team Land Rover – but the Post Office donated a short wheelbase Land Rover to us so we could see if we could make practical use of a second team vehicle.

In 1999 we launched a fundraising drive to purchase a new second Land Rover and upgrade the existing one to the same specification. These two vehicles eventually came into use in April 2001.

In 2000 we started discussing changing the team into a Company Limited by Guarantee to protect the membership from risks of being sued and losing homes and even pensions. This was completed in January 2002, with us now being both a charity and a company.

In 2003 our radio frequencies were changed to high band VHF and we were fortunate to have more than 40 radios purchased by Greater Manchester Police. This allowed most of our team to have a personal radio to improve general communication on the hill, but also to improve safety by keeping people in contact.

For the first time it also allowed us direct radio contact with the Ambulance Service from our vehicle. Unfortunately they changed to digital Airwaves sets in 2008, losing this useful link.

The tsunami in 2004, and our contacts with an outdoor clothing company with manufacturing facilities in Sri Lanka who were wanting to improve a school in a safe location, resulted in us running a sponsored abseil in 2005. This raised £8,500 towards the £80,000 costs and Welligama School has a classroom named after our team.

In 2008 the screening of a mountain rescue incident on ITV’s Coronation Street resulted in a lot of national publicity about the difficulties of getting new members to join rescue teams.The team had a large influx of new members, who now provide the core of the current team, bringing a wide range of skills and above all enthusiasm which revitalised the team.

Over the years we had tried operating with a control trailer for running incidents away from the headquarters with limited success, but in 2009 we were able to purchase a vehicle from the Woodhead team which had been converted into a control vehicle. With additional changes this has been a valuable addition to our vehicles.

At the end of 2009 our local area suffered from heavy and prolonged snowfall. Extensive use of the 4-wheel drive Land Rovers in support of the local ambulance service resulted in more than 100 rescues by the end of the year – a record for the team.

At the start of 2010 we began a fundraising drive to replace both our Land Rovers, expecting this would take 18 months to 2 years. With incredible support from local schools and organisations, plus a large donation from the East Lancashire Mark Masons, we were able to place the order after only 6 months. The new vehicles, costing £92,000, were delivered in March 2011

In 2010 Greater Manchester Police were kindly donated a minibus to us, which, once converted to carry search and rescue dogs, has been used extensively for transport to incidents and exercises.

At the end of 2010, with four vehicles in our fleet, we took on the rental of an industrial unit in Greenfield to allow us to garage them under cover, and improve the storage and checking of equipment. Although this is where most of the equipment is stored, and some training takes place, our headquarters is still at the barn at the Cross Keys thanks to the support of Lees Brewery and the landlords.

In 2013 we purchased eight handheld radios with GPS receivers to monitor the location of the radios while on the hill on a mapping display in our control vehicle. We were also finally allowed to hold Police Airwaves sets which have access to the Ambulance channels and so the valuable direct link to the emergency services was restored.

Modern electronics and computers have had a significant impact on the team. We now have a system which the Police, Ambulance service and our own team can use to send SMS text messages to team members for callouts.

We have links with the Ordnance Survey who provide free electronic mapping information to Mountain Rescue teams and we have a computerised search control and mapping system which is ideal for planning and running major searches in an efficient manner.

With the increasing use of smart phones, we can get people who are lost to download a small application to their phone which will send us the precise details of their location.

But the most valuable resource remains the 50 volunteer team members who are available at any time, day or night, throughout the year.