Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue Team

This year marks the 61st anniversary of the Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue Team which was created in April 1962 after a tragic incident near Beacon Fell on the 25th of March 1962.

The incident, which involved 3 siblings who had been out for a walk on the fells in inclement weather, sadly ended in two fatalities, with two brothers dying although their sister had frantically tried to raise the alarm and save them.

Even after local police and volunteers had searched thoroughly for several hours, using dogs and a helicopter, it proved to be too late for the two brothers who succumbed to exposure, afterwards it was decided that a dedicated mountain rescue team should be created for the area.

Since then BPMRT, based at Barnacre near Garstang and Smelt Mill in the Trough of Bowland, have saved many lives in the area and assisted in operations further afield too with organisations such as the coastguard and the Cave Rescue Organisation.

The Morecambe Bay Cockling Tragedy

One of the biggest operations BPMRT have assisted in was the Morecambe Bay Cockling Tragedy 20 years ago, when a group of over 40 Chinese Cockle pickers came into trouble whilst working out in the bay.

Along with teams from Mountain Rescue Search Dogs England (MRSDE), the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), Royal Air Force (RAF), Ambulance Service, Police, and Fire & Rescue, the BPMRT contributed over 300 man-hours in the search for the cocklers, who had been caught out by the in-coming tide.

Thanks to everyone’s efforts 16 were rescued or found safely on the shore, sadly 23 did not survive, 19 of their bodies being recovered over the course of the night and the next day. Without the aid of rescue teams such as the BPMRT this number could have been much higher.

BPMRT are run wholly by volunteers and it costs them £35,000 a year just to remain operational, they can be found attending many local events such as Slaidburn Steam Rally and often organise fundraisers and street collection days. You can even volunteer for them yourself, why not try being a ‘dogsbody’ for a day? (you basically sit somewhere pretending you’re waiting to be rescued, it’s great fun!)

A B-H