At 16:42 this afternoon the team was paged by NWAS (Greater Manchester) Emergency Control Centre who were requesting our assistance at an incident.

Two team members (Steve Fletcher and Diane Blakeley) were already available at out Ladybridge Hall Base/HQ, and so Steve returned the call to NWAS to get the details, and Diane prepared a team Landrover for an immediate departure.

We were asked to go to the assistance of an NWAS Emergency Ambulance crew at Barrow Bridge, Bolton, where they were attending to a lady with an ankle injury a short distance from the top of the “63 Steps”, adjacent to Dakin’s Brook.

The team was paged with the full details of the rendezvous point at 16:47, and the Landrover Ambulance, BM1, departed base at 16:55.

Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon arrived on scene at 16:58 and liaised with the ambulance crew who were already with the casualty. The injured lady, whose ankle had already been splinted by the NWAS crew, was then placed onto our SAR Alpine Lite stretcher and evacuated down the slope (and down the “63 Steps”) for a distance of around 260m to the waiting ambulance on Barrow Bridge Road.

With the lady safely at the ambulance, the team was stood down at 17:26 as the ambulance departed for Royal Bolton Hospital.

The team would like to thank to two gentlemen who came across the casualty whilst out walking; they called for an ambulance, stayed with the casualty, and even looked after the casualty’s dog for her!

In total, 17 team members and one team vehicle responded to this incident, with a further two team members stood down responding.