Tonight the team was preparing to conduct a novel exercise on the moors above Darwen, in co-operation with two colleagues from Rossendale & Pendle MRT.
The exercise scenario was that a mountain biker had become unseated whilst riding his bike on Darwen Moor, colliding with a tree and coming to rest on the ground. Our mountain biker was to be expertly played by Bolton MRT Support Group member Iain Clarkson, who had been unceremoniously “dumped” on the moor, complete with a mountain bike, by team member Steve Fletcher a short time earlier.
The location of the “accident” was some way off the somewhat inaccessible (by Land Rover, at least) track south of Aggie’s Staircase, where rainfall over recent years has washed away some of the track to the point where there are now large holes which would send a large vehicle down into the adjacent gully.
Meanwhile at the exercise RVP at the Roddlesworth Information Centre, team members were assembling and preparing to deploy onto the moor, with the assistance of the Rossendale & Pendle MRT All-terrain vehicle (a.k.a. “the buggy”). As the vehicle was narrow enough to navigate the track (without falling into the gully!) it would’ve been used to ferry casualty handling equipment onto the moor.
Alas, the exercise was cut short at 20:06, with the news that Greater Manchester Police were beginning to scale up the search for a missing 12 year old boy in the Bolton area. Our exercise casualty Iain was swiftly recovered from the moor courtesy of the RPMRT All-terrain vehicle, along with the mountain bike, and the team swiftly departed the exercise RVP to assemble at our Ladybridge Hall Base/HQ in Bolton.
Our thanks are expressed to the local farmer (John Smith) and local residents who put up with our many “comings & goings” tonight!
Thanks also to the two Rossendale & Pendle MRT members who attended tonight with the ATV, on its carriage trailer, towed by at Rossendale & Pendle MRT vehicle.
At the time of the exercise stand-down, circa 21 Bolton MRT callout-list members and one Support Group member were present on the exercise.
