GMP had been involved in a developing search for a missing 43 years old Middleton man, reported missing since 20th November 2015, in circumstances giving cause for concern regards his well being.

In liaison with MRTs operating within Greater Manchester, a larger scale search operation was pre planned from Thursday 10th December to mobilise for a search operation on Sunday 13th December, should on going Police search operations require such.

Oldham MRT in whose primary operational area sits Middleton, co-ordinated the MRT response, which saw resources gather on the morning of today Sunday 13th December 2015, for an intensive search operation focused on open land areas around Grimshaw Lane and the Wince Brook areas.

Our team met initially at 08.30hrs at our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ on this damp morning, to depart for the Middleton search RVP, arriving at circa 09.50hrs to join other deployed search assets.

Seventeen Bolton MRT members were deployed very soon afterwards, in two search parties in to open land either side of Wince Brook, with our DVSD Search Dog also deployed.

A party made up of PDMRO – Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation, water team members deployed to search the Wince Brook itself.

Other search parties from RPMRT and Oldham MRT also deployed with two air scenting mountain rescue Search dogs also available.

Oldham MRT co-ordinated the overall search effort from their Control Vehicle, with both RPMRT and Bolton MRT also operating ‘sub controls.’

We provided full catering for all resources fro all the teams present, involved in todays search, from our Catering Trailer Unit, with Bolton MRT Support Group members Iain Clarkson and Laura Tunnicliffe keeping everybody present on this very damp day well fed with hot food (bacon and sausage barms) soup, bread rolls, biscuits and endless cups of coffee, tea and even hot chocolate if you knew where it was stored!

Team members Mark Scott and Bob Hutchinson, though not directly involved in any search parties, nevertheless carried out an excellent job transporting both Bolton MRT and RPMRT personnel to and from their various search areas, in one of our Land Rovers and our Transit Minibus.

With a find in the early afternoon, the search was stood down, and most Bolton MRT members involved had left the search RVP by 13.45hrs following a debrief, just as the afternoon rain commenced.

It was then back to our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ where all our vehicles were cleaned and washed inside and out, kit checked and everybody then returning home to their families in this busy run up to Christmas time.

The following resources were involved in todays search operation;

• Greater Manchester Police; 1x Missing Person Search Manager, 2x PCSO’s and Divisional Officers, liaison from the Force Duty Officer.
• Oldham Mountain Rescue Team; Control Vehicle, Support vehicle and two Land Rover Defender MR Ambulances, with nineteen operational members present.
• Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue Team; Toyota HiLux and Land Rover Discovery Mountain Rescue Ambulances, ten operational members present.
• Bolton Mountain Rescue Team; Four Land Rover Defender MR Ambulances, Ford Transit Minibus, Volkswagen Crafter Incident Control Vehicle, Catering Unit Trailer, twenty three operational members and two Support Group members present.

• Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation joint Water Team; Eight members present from Derby MRT, Kinder MRT and Glossop MRT we understand.
• SARDA England; Two Mountain Rescue Air Scenting Dog Teams, figures also included in above personnel listings for Oldham MRT.
• SARDA Ireland North; One DVSD Search Dog Team, Dog Sasha, Handler Dave Marsh, from Bolton MRT, also included within above personnel listings.