Over the past couple of months Bolton Mountain Rescue have been advertising for interested parties to join the operational side of our voluntary service. Tonight was the first session of three to learn a bit more about the team (webmaster: and discover how much Garry can talk!).

In total we had 22 people who completed the on-line application form, this resulted in 15 people confirming their attendance on the three introduction / training sessions. Tonight 13 people out of the 15 have turned up.

This evening started with an introduction to the team from our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE, followed by Chairman Craig Lamb. Following a short promotional video on Mountain Rescue across the UK and Ireland it was ’ordinary’ team callout members Martin Banks, Ana Toole and Neil Warburtons’ turn to each give their perspective about what it is really like being in the team, with conflicting pressures such as family life or work impacting on Mountain Rescue (or vice versa).

A quick navigational quiz and questionnaire on what mountaineering and local experience each of the members had was completed before grabbing a bite to eat.

Fully replenished it was time for ’Death by PowerPoint’ by Garry Rhodes, outlining the history of the team, how the team fits in to the national picture, what our capabilities are, who we work for and a selection of the jobs we have been involved with.

The next session will be an outdoor session on Sunday testing fitness, navigation, stretcher carrying and seeing whether being part of the team is for them. So Ashley, Richard, Martin, Carl, Chris, Kris, Dean, Robert, Michael x 3, Mark and Jess, will you be joining us?

We would like to thank Support Group members Laura Tunnicliffe, Sarah Hindle and Gillian Gregory for turning up tonight and providing such excellent catering (not forgetting team member Martin Banks who bought all the ingredients).