Bolton MRT operational team member Vernon Garry Rhodes BA, Dip LA, CMLI (Retired) MBE wishes to thank through the medium of the teams website and its associated Facebook and Twitter feeds, all those kind family members, friends, colleagues and associates including representatives of various agencies, who have personally telephoned him, emailed him, contacted him by social media or personally met him to thank him and honour him for his twenty seven years of being Bolton MRT Team Leader, which ended on Wednesday evening 16th March 2016, with Garry standing down from the position of Team Leader he has held continuously since March 1989.

Included within such contacts has been former Bolton MRT operational member from the early 1980s Trevor Briggs, now long resident in the United States of America, who contacted Garry to wish him all the best in Team Leader retirement, from his Colorado home.

Also GMP Force Duty Officer Inspector Michael Eddleston on behalf of all GMP FDOs, GMP DC Jane Wilcock, brothers Simon and Rick Lane (Team Leader and Deputy Team Leader) of Cheshire SART, Paul Chamberlain of Norfolk LSART and NWAS Director of Emergency Operations Derek Cartwright.

Garry would also like to thank all those kind Bolton MRT team members, past and present, operational and Support Group, who were present and made Wednesday night, 16th March 2016, such a memorable occasion for him.

He would also like to thank the Bolton MRT team membership for the wonderful gift of the mountain rescue figurine on an inscribed plinth base, his two ‘retirement from Team Leadership cards’ from the operational and Support Group membership, and the kind and thoughtful words expressed publicly about his 27 years as Team Leader, by many at the 2016 AGM on Wednesday 16th March 2016.

Garry has stated:

“It has been a honour and a privilege to serve as Bolton MRT Team Leader 1989 to 2016, as I pass this my 35th year as an operational Bolton MRT team member.”

“I am equally honoured to be awarded Honorary Life Membership and the position of Honorary Archivist, and further honoured to continue as an operational team member of this excellent team.”