This week’s Wednesday evening exercise was organised by our Equipment Officer – Water, Dave Cook, and commenced within the car park of Turton Golf Club, with team members assembling for our usual 20.00hrs start on scene – some having met to depart from our Ladybridge hall Base / HQ at 19.30hrs.
The scenario was of two missing males who had been collecting lost golf balls from the valley area within the middle of the golf course.
A search plan was quickly formulated and two search parties were dispatched in to the steep sided Hazelhurst Brook valley area, one to the North side and one to the South side, under the radio control of team member Elaine Gilliland, operating from one of our Land Rovers.
@BoltonMRT training last night. Search and Rescue exercise in the river valley near Turton golf club pic.twitter.com/jGunExvnAm
— Mike Marsh (@Mike_Marsh28) March 5, 2015
The first exercise casualty, brilliantly acted out by Simon Stirling, friend of trainee member Matthew Morris, was quickly found, and was assessed to have a fractured Femur and Elbow, and was treated using our Kendrick Traction Splint and Vacuum Splints
The second exercise casualty, after a “minor” navigation error by trainee team member Rasti Schweizer, was found soon after, with the exercise casualty being played by Josh Almond, a rising star in the world of Architecture and Building Design. This time the scenario injuries were of a spinal nature, and Josh was immobilised using our full length Vacuum Mattress
Both exercise casualties were the evacuated back to the car park on our specialist Mountain Rescue stretchers.
A later than normal finish at 22.30hrs followed our usual ‘hot debrief’ session.
In total, twenty one team Call Out list and seven team Trainee members were directly involved in this exercise, which also involved all four of our Land Rover Defender Mountain Rescue Ambulances.
We would like to extend our thanks to both our exercise casualties for their time and acting skills, and to the management of Turton Golf Club for allowing us to use their facilities for the duration of this exercise.
