Today on a damp and drizzly Good Friday, 18 Team Call Out list members assembled at our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ at 10.30hrs for a briefing before departing for our annual presence at the Good Friday festivities centred upon the West Pennine Moors landmark of Rivington Pike.

Every Good Friday a fairground is set up just for the day on Georges Lane immediately at the foot of Rivington Pike. This fairground, combined with the local traditions of Chorley, Horwich, Bolton and surrounding towns of walking up the Pike to the summit, usually draws thousands of visitors to the Pike area and even more to the general Rivington area. This year, even in the bad weather, a large number of people had their traditional walk up to the Pike and back.

Four of our Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulances were on hand, located at the ‘New Toilet Block’ entrance to the Terraced Gardens, on the Horwich side of the Fairground site on the moorland track of Georges Lane and at Rivington Hall Barn. Team members also travelled through the area on foot.

Our incident control vehicle was positioned in the courtyard of Rivington Hall Barn as a control point whilst also providing shelter and catering for team members and the police officers present.

Throughout the day, in a joint operation with a Lancashire Constabulary Police Officer presence (7 officers in total), and three Rangers from United Utilities, the team was on hand to deal with any public safety issue, related to the hundreds of visitors present in the area.

Many visitors commented with thanks to us for our work in the local community and for being present today, “Just in case.”

The team would like to thank Kevin Salmon of Salmon Catering, the owner of Rivington Hall Barn, who very kindly provided the team members with quality food and hot drinks from his burger van which was conveniently positioned close to our control vehicle.

The Team members present today finished back at our Ladybridge hall Base / HQ at 17.30hrs.