This evening prior to the commencement of our weekly exercise, the team was visited by Team Call Out list member Steve O’Hara, not in his capacity as a Team member, but in his capacity as an Instructor with the Army Cadet Force.
He met Elaine Gilliland, our Training Officer, handing over a very kind donation of £100.00 to the team from the Cadets of Number 5 (Anzio) Company, Greater Manchester Army Cadet Force.
The following is a detailed report from Steve O’Hara, giving the background to this very supportive donation;
“As you know I’m an instructor with the Army Cadet Force and last weekend we held some training at Wigan Territorial Army Centre (TAC), in Wigan, on the Saturday and at the Holcombe Moor Cadet Training Centre on the Sunday, for all those cadets within Number 5 (Anzio) Company, Greater Manchester Army Cadet Force, wishing to do either their Bronze or Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award. In total we had 45 cadets wishing to do one or the other.
On the Saturday as part of their training I was asked to give a lesson on emergency procedures and in doing so, this led me on to Mountain Rescue in general and also giving a short lecture on our team and our kit. I was able to show the cadets the video from the last Mountain Rescue Conference (Thanks to Team Member Paul Brain who told me it was on Youtube!) and they seemed to be enthralled by the diverse work and weather conditions that we work under. I then went on to show them some of the hill kit provided to us, because as always, I had my team kit with me in case I should get a call out! I explained what each item of kit was for and also just how expensive it was to buy and that it was provided by very kind donations to the team. I also explained that we are all volunteers, which seemed to amaze not only them, but also some of the staff listening to my briefing!
I also explained to them, that when they were out walking the following day in the area of Holcombe Moor and Bull Hill, that should they get into difficulty that required the need for emergency services, because of the type of area and terrain, there may be a good possibility that it would be the likes of myself and my colleagues within the team that would drop whatever they were doing, to attend and come to their rescue! (along with the other emergency services of course).
So it came as great surprise to me, when at the end of training in the hills on Sunday, that our Company 2iC (second in command) Sgt Major Townson presented me with a cheque for the team of £100 on behalf of those cadets and 5 (Anzio) Coy GMACF. It was explained in an email sent out to all the Coy staff that each cadet had paid £5 to attend the weekend and after paying out for various costs, the remainder was donated to the team as in the Sgt Maj words ‘it’s a worth while cause and as most of our training is carried out at Holcombe, had anything gone wrong or was to go wrong in the future, it would be these guys that would be coming to our aid’.”
The whole team membership wishes to extend its sincere thanks to the Cadets of Number 5 (Anzio) Company, Greater Manchester Army Cadet Force.
