Today Team Call Out list and Support Group members attended the Annual Bury Lions Club, Bury Carnival.
Our colleagues at Rossendale and Pendle MRT also attended, and much publicity and interest was generated once again, all furthering the cause and support of, the two local Mountain Rescue Teams which regularly operate within the Bury community.
Their follows an account of today by Team Call Out list member Diane Blakeley;
Today we had the great pleasure of attending for the fourth year in a row the Bury Lions Club Carnival & Parade. Bolton MRT Support Group members Iain Clarkson, Sarah Hindle and Laura Tunnicliffe took part in the gala setting up a stall to raise funds from selling second-hand books, Bolton MRT wrist bands, Bolton MRT Christmas cards and the “name the meerkat” game. Throughout the day they had a steady stream of visitors with in total £87.07 being raised for Bolton MRT. The most successful aspect was the sale of second hand books, which included some good quality books recently donated to us.
Early afternoon saw the Carnival Parade, so Bolton MRT Vice-President Alan James, Team members David Crawford, myself Diane Blakeley and Trainee member Jess Ellsmore left the carnival site and our stall to join the queue for the parade in one of our emergency Land Rover ambulances Bolton Mobile 1. We again were the back vehicle allowing us if we needed to respond to an incident to do so easily. All the parade line up thirty minutes before the start time; Jess and I used this time to attempt to place Bolton MRT stickers on most people in the parade including those on floats, the steel band, the firemen and their mascot. We then headed to the front of the parade to pass out stickers to the very excited crowd waiting, before returning back to take our place ready for the start of the parade.
The hot sunny weather had brought out a very big crowd, in places we could only just drive the Land Rover through. This year we not only had our mascot “Rory the Rescue Rover” but also a new female bear (yet to be named) who was recently kitted out in her Bolton MRT uniform by Support Group member Sarah Hindle. We followed a Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue fire engine complete with their mascot Cracker on top, whilst our mascots waved from either side of the Land Rover much to the excitement of children and adults alike. Once the parade was over it was back to our stall where we continued to pass out stickers whilst some children jumped in the landrover and asked a multitude of questions.
Our thanks to Bury Lions Club for the invitation to again attend this wonderful event which saw lots of money being raised for local charities.
See also web reports 12th June 2010, 24th August 2010, 11th June 2011, 22nd August 2011, 10th June 2012, 10th September 2012
