News

Sadly, Kitt died last night after a short illness.

For those of you who might not know, Kitt was not only a great family pet but a LDMRSDA search dog attached to Langdale Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team between 2009 and 2015. She assisted with many rescues throughout the lakes, as well as one or two in Yorkshire, Lancashire and Scotland.

Many of you will recall her on rescues, searches and training sessions. My most memorable ones include; searching for victims of the Cumbria shootings, locating a Japanese tourist who'd become lost in the mist on Heron Pike and her escape from her harness whilst on board a Sea King Helicopter, causing mild panic amongst the crew and a rather swift landing, as she crawled towards the cockpit!

Thank you to all those people who hid, helped and generally made her life a succession of brilliant adventures.

Kitt also accompanied Eddie Izzard for part of his multi-marathon run and was famous for bringing unfeasibly small sticks to throw

Her passing leaves a void in our household but the Benson's can take some comfort in the knowledge that, as dogs lives go, her life was pretty amazing and certainly action packed.

We are delighted to have been involved in the development and launch of Adventure Smart UK and Adventure Smart Lake District Cumbria.

This is an initiative designed to deliver consistent safety messages to a wider audience and is backed by LDNP, Cumbria Tourism and National Trust, amongst others.

Take a look at http://www.adventuresmart.uk/lake-district-cumbria/ and the hashtags #makeyourgooddaybetter and #beadventuresmart

We're lowering the recruitment age for the team...

It was great to meet the guys from Mind Blue Light Walk as they passed through Ambleside on route to Blackpool, raising awareness of mental health issues within the blue light services, both paid and voluntary

With help from Cicerone, Lakes teams have updated their safety leaflet and copies are being distributed

The team is saddened to announce the recent death of Vice President, Peter Greenall

Peter was a Deputy Team Leader from the inception of the team in 1970 until 1972, then followed Syd Cross as Team Leader from 1973 to 1975

Pete was variously an electrical engineer and also manager of Ambleside’s Climbers Shop. He was a very knowledgable climber and was renowned for his sense of humour

Peter had retired to Spain, but remained team Vice President from 1977  until his death

The team extends its best wishes to Peter’s family and friends

Many thanks to all consumers of Dizzy Blond at Ambleside's Golden Rule... 

Five pence from each pint of Dizzy Blond bought at The Golden Rule in Ambleside will go to the team

Thanks to both for their support

Nick Owen, LAMRT Team Leader was present at the recent Cumbria Tourism Awards to accept an award on behalf of ALL Lake's teams for their innovation in the use of modern technology, for the benefit of visitors to Cumbria.

The award was created by sculptor, Chris Brammall, whose dad, Andy, was actually an LAMRT member and search dog handler in the past

Almost a year on from his climbing fall, it was great to see Rick doing so well. Rick suffered a very serious head injury, along with chest injuries and was rescued in incident 35 of last year.

http://www.lamrt.org.uk/incidents/2014/incident/35-0 

He recently got engaged and his friends and family raised a substantly donation at their party

He presented the doantion along with his fiance and future mother-in-law

He's slowly getting back to climbing after a  lengthy and tough recovery

Ambleside and Kirkstone Rotary are carrying out an emergency collect in aid of the people of earthquake hit Nepal.

Hayes Garden World have kindly given permission for them to be there on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd.

The times of collection will be 11.00 - 4.00 pm on Saturday, and 11.00 - 3.00 pm on Sunday.

A donation of in excess of £600 was raised by the Sunday Walking Club, Preston.

We rescued one of their members from Fairfield and this was their way of saying thanks. It is much appreciated.

Members then set off for a walk, complete with our ex-casualty, now recovered. It's great to hear a happy ending.

The team recently received a visit by the family and friends of Matthew Jordan. Matthew tragically died in March, and the team were heavily involved in the search for him.

They were given a base tour, and got to see the team dealing with an incident which occurred while they were there.

They presented the team with a cheque for £7500, which we will share with Lake District Mountain Rescue Search Dogs, eights of whose dogs and handlers were involved

Fifteen members of the Norske Folkenhjelp spent two of their three days in England with us. On Thursday we showed them round our base, demonstrated some of our gear and explained how we worked. Some ventured up Helvellyn and on to Striding Edge to sample English mountain walking at its finest. On Saturday we organised a mock rescue exercise for them to take part in. A 'casualty' was treated and evacuated from steep ground high above Kirkstone Pass, and a wide range of our medical kit and technical kit was used.

The afternoon entertainment was provided by the inevitable rescue, where some of them joined us to deal with incident 38, while others sampled the heady pleasures of Ambleside outdoor shop and cafes.

We got together again in the evening to sample some typical English food... a big pot of Chicken Tikka and some local Cumbria beer... some of them finished their visit by going to Blackpool on their way back to the airport!!

Zeffirellis present Downhill, the movie.. looks like fun and the team benefits!

Thanks for the support.

http://goo.gl/tjLlPj

The team is saddended to hear of the recent death of former team leader and president, Stewart Hulse. Stewart was a founder member of the team an served for many years. 

Upon retirement from active mountain rescue, Stewart continued his support for the service with high profile campaigns to remove VAT charges from teams.

There will be a service to remember Stewart and celebrate his life at St Martin's church in Bowness on Saturday 7th December

Could you save a life...

if someone collapsed in front of you and stopped breathing?

NO?

Then come along to the Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue Base

on one of the following dates for a 1 hour  taster course.

 This is FREE of charge.

6.00 p.m. on:

·         Monday 2^nd September

·         Tuesday 10^th September

·         Tuesday 17^th September

·         Monday 23^rd September

·         Monday 30^th September

·         Tuesday 8^th October

Just one hour of your time could save a life

Meet some of the team, have a cup of tea and attend a short introduction to CPR.

Remember, the more people that can perform effective CPR the more lives will be saved and it could be yours or one of your family.

So we don’t over book please ring Andy on 07747 024691 to book a place.

If you have to cancel please let me know as places are limited.

We are opposite the Hayes garden centre on the A591.

Our main entrance is from the car park by the public conveniences!

This taster is open to:

Team member’s family and friends, locals, holiday makers

and anyone who can spare an hour.

The staff of Tom's school have undertaken a number of challenges to raise funds for the team following the rescue of Tom Lister after his fall from Jack's Rake last summer. See more of their efforts here: http://www.rgshw.com/default.aspx?id=702

We were recently recontacted by a casualty we rescued back in 2009. The gentleman suffered a very serious leg injury when he ws hit by rockfall in Eassy Gully on Pavey Ark. He was able to report that finally, 4 years later, he had been able to make it up to Easedale Tarn and Styhead Tarn. He had undergone pioneering surgery, and a lengthy rehabilitation.

Great news!!

http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/10316333.Warning_of_avalanc…

Mary McCormick is raising funds for LAMRT and Bowland Pennine MRT through a sponsored walk on the ‘Discover Challenge: trek the Himalayas from Pokhara to Kathmandu’.

Mary is 74 years old, a keen walker and loves a challenge. Three years ago she went through surgery to remove half of the left lung due to lung cancer. This makes climbing in the Himalayas a real challenge for her.

She says that she has great admiration for Mountain Rescue teams wherever they are, as she has had experience of being brought down a mountain in France on a skiing accident.

The fact that the MR teams are volunteers is very dear to her heart as she has been a volunteer herself with V.S.O (Voluntary Service Overseas) and knows what a huge commitment volunteering can be.

Please give generously in appreciation of MR teams everywhere, they are worth it.

Donations can be given direct by pressing our Charity Choice button and nominating Mary in the appropriate column. Please choose the gift aid option if you are eligible and we will give half the total sum to BPMRT. http://www.charitychoice.co.uk/langdaleambleside-mountain-rescue-team-1…

If you want to do something that involves getting active yourself, then this might suit you: Proceeds of this event are being split between ourselves and Coniston MRT:
The Big Charity Abseil 2012 on Facebook