Today the team would like to extend our sincere congratulations to our good friend and valued colleague, Derek Cartwright QAM, on his recent appointment as Chief Executive Officer of the North West Ambulance Service.

Derek has had a very long and personal association with Bolton Mountain Rescue Team, going back a great number of years with his career within the Greater Manchester Ambulance Service and then following amalgamation of ambulance services in 2006, within the North West Ambulance Service.

Derek, a local Bolton man, first encountered our team when attending as a Paramedic Operational Officer for GMAS at an incident involving an off-road motorcyclist in the Plank Lane area of Leigh many years ago, going on to meet the team on a great many and varied operational incidents since that time.

Through his many very senior management roles within GMAS and NWAS, including his previous role as Director of Operations, Derek has always steadfastly assisted our team in numerous ways, operationally and on training, giving valued help on our annual Mountain Rescue Foundation Course, supporting the team in a great many other ways (known and sometimes unknown to most of our membership) and securing our use of a permanent base and garages at NWAS Headquarters, Ladybridge Hall in Bolton, – not to mention the numerous quiet words of support in the background over a great many years.

Pictured – Derek (l) delivering a lecture at our annual Mountain Rescue Foundation Course

Away from Bolton MRT, Derek has also supported the cause and work of mountain rescue and search and rescue teams throughout the NWAS area of operations, and continues to be a strong advocate of fully embracing voluntary agencies who are willing to assist NWAS.

The team would like to wish Derek our best wishes and every success in his new role at NWAS.

He can be assured that we at Bolton MRT will continue to support NWAS in any way we can as the ambulance service moves forward and looks to the future.