Last Friday children from Belarus had a treat courtesy of the team; today it was the turn of large numbers of Boltonian children who were due to enjoy the annual “Taxi Treat” in which lots of of Bolton taxidrivers take them on a day trip to the seaside at Southport.

The children, many of whom have disabilities or special needs, congregated at the car park of Asda at Burnden Park to be met by a marvellous spectacle: the mayor of Bolton was there, as was Lofty the Lion (for those readers who are not so local, that’s the team mascot of premiership football team Bolton Wanderers), lots of interesting vehicles and … Bolton Mountain Rescue Team members Mark Scott, Chris Greenhalgh and Ged Clarke with Team Landrovers BM1, BM2 and BM4.

The children of Bolton pose for a photocall with Lofty the Lion and BMRT!

The first intrepid child asked, “please can I get in and press the buttons?”. From that point on it was happy chaos as the Landrovers filled with boys and girls. On came the blue lights, and the siren controls and public address systems were soon discovered in all three vehicles and put to extensive use! Poor local residents! Lots of fun was had as children queued to play, until it was time to depart on the taxi procession to Southport with a police escort. Team vehicles remained in the procession as far as the team’s bases. Everybody, including the team members, had a smashing time.