This evening, our weekly training exercise took the form of a search for two overdue geologists, missing in the confines of Lead Mines Valley / Limestone Clough on the southern part of Anglezarke Moor (Within the operational area of Bowland Pennine MRT)

The two hapless geologists were played by Team Support Group member Gary Melia and his friend Andy Ward, who in the great traditions of making the exercise far harder than anything we are likely to come across, managed to in Gary’s case, get stuck and ‘injured’ at the base of the first high waterfall, and in Andy’s case suffer a similar fate entangled within undergrowth in the same location, both within the rocky steep sided gorge section of the valley.

On hand to search for and then rescue them, were twenty six of our team Call Out list members, joined by guests Fabrice Fleurot of Cheshire Search and Rescue Team, Dani Burgess Fundraising Officer of NEWSAR, and Phil Horner, a former Trainee member of Rossendale and Pendle MRT.

Given the very steep sided nature of this wooded gorge, the very narrow paths, and extremely damp and boggy conditions underfoot, combined with the slippy riverbed conditions (Where Gary was positioned) the exercise arranged by team member Mike O’Brien was challenging to say the least!

No one survived the evening with dry boots, or heavily mud stained clothing – still waht else would we be doing on a Wednesday evening?