Today the team commenced its 40th anniversary year since formation in late September (as far as our records tell) 1968. To celebrate the start of our anniversary year, we went back to our past and organised an outdoor exercise based around the use of our now retired Rigid Thomas and Split Thomas mountain rescue stretchers.

Both of these stretchers were retired from the team some years ago in favour of more modern stretcher designs in the guise of Bell and Troll Alphin mountain rescue stretchers (which are still in use today).

Since retiring these stretchers, both the Rigid and Split Thomas Stretchers have been wall-mounted in our garage as an example of times past in the team. Despite retirement there is no reason why both stretchers could not be used operationally today.

Both these stretchers represented the first and second purchase of specific mountain rescue stretchers by the team and came into service in the early and late seventies, as much as the faded memories of long-serving team members Alan “General” James and Geoff Seddon.

This evening the stretchers were brought down off the wall for an outdoor exercise in the Lower House area of Rivington to show our younger members how well these stretchers cope on our moorland terrain and also to allow Geoff Seddon and Alan James to remenisce about times past.

As expected the weather for tonight’s exercise was torrential downpours with temperatures hovering around an unseasonal 7 degreeCelcius. Hopefully the weather for the rest of our 40th anniversary year will improve somewhat!