This weekend saw 48 delegates from 20 different Mountain Rescue teams congregate at the Kingswood Colomendy Camp for the third Party Leaders Course held at this venue.

The weekend was organised by Bolton MRT members Elaine Gilliland and Steve Nelson and Iain Ashcroft and Becky Waudby of North East Wales Search and Rescue (NEWSAR). The course had a range of instructors and mentors from across Mountain Rescue (England & Wales) including Mike Marsh and Paul Brain from Bolton MRT.

Two of the delegates attending this weekends course came from Bolton MRT, Training Officer Mike Wakerley and Phil Horner.

The Friday night started with an introduction to all the staff and gathering delegates into their new team members who they would be working with over the next couple of days. The first lecture was from the Police explaining police expectations of Mountain Rescue teams.

The Saturday dawn far too early for those who had partaken in the delights of the local pub, who were welcomed with a cold, crisp morning. All delegates rotated around 5 classroom sessions including sessions on the 5 Roles in a Party, Leadership and Water Awareness.

Next it was time to go outside where the 7 groups rotated between exercises putting into practice what they had learned during the mornings classroom sessions, with each party member getting a chance to act as the Party Leader.

Next it was back into the classrooms for more learning on helicopter and forensic awareness before heading for further liquid refreshments.

Sunday involved further tests on the learning which had taken place over the previous 2 days, with the scenarios becoming more involved and difficult to test the skills of the new Party Leaders.

Following the course, Mike Wakerley sent the following message to all Bolton team members:

I wanted to drop everyone an e-mail to say how much of an enjoyable, informative and thought provoking course this was and would like to encourage everyone to try this course at some point in their time in Bolton MRT.

I really think it would give each and every team member more of an understanding of how a party/team work together and are managed on an incident.

It was also a fantastic place to meet with other teams as the course was attended by 20 different teams from all over England & Wales.

All organisers would like to thank Kingswood Colomendy for their hospitality over the weekend.