The Moorjock
August 2011
Two additions to the call out list This month Scarborough and Ryedale Mountain Rescue Team welcomes two new team members onto the call out roster. Last year the team were called to in excess of fifty search or rescue call outs and as such have a need to maintain a pool of trained volunteers who can be called upon 24 hours a day 7 days a week in all conditions. Chris Thresh and John Hart were recently successful in the assessment to judge their suitability for inclusion on the team call out list for live incidents. After a period of training with the team they both had to demonstrate their knowledge and competence of team procedures and equipment. The assessments covered navigation, search techniques, radio procedure, safe working with ropes on steep ground as well as equipment and vehicle familiarity.
Chris tells us his motivation for joining the team was as a result of experience he gained with Ogwin Valley Mountain Rescue team and extensive mountain experience, leading groups in walking, climbing and mountain biking. John, a teacher of music and outdoor pursuits, lives in Bridlington. He first became aware of mountain rescue at the age of five while been fitted for boots in a shop in the Lake District. A bell rang in the shop and the assistant ran out and off to a call out. John has wanted to be involved in Mountain Rescue ever since. John's website is http://www.wildthingsma.co.uk/.
Chris, who lives in Haxby, is the Training Warrant Officer with 34 Field Hospital in Strensall.
Fundraising @scarrescue in my humble opinion they were both very good assessments which were a lot more in depth than previously. Thumbs up :)
The activities at the Wykeham Whizz and Filey emergency services day raised in excess of £320 but more importantly allowed us to engage with potential ‘customers’ to explain our skills and abilities. While David’s tiny tractor was a draw at the Whizz, Pete (Baldrick) Holtby is developing a cunning plan to make future emergency service days more engaging. Watch this space.
See page 2 for the fantastic effort by Roger and Colin on their JOG to LE challenge.
Big Bear bikes in Pickering approached us on Facebook to provide them with Mountain Rescue wrist bands to sell on our behalf. Thanks to David and Roger for delivering at short notice. A cheque for £50 is in the post.
People can now donate to the team by texting SRMR07 £10 to 70070 (£1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10). It all ends up at www/justgiving.com/srmrt
Proceeds from the NYMBO mountain bike th marathon on the 18 of September are to be donated to the team. We will be visiting the event.
-2John O’Groats to Lands End Published in the Whitby Gazette on Wednesday 17 August 2011 13:49 A LOCAL pub landlord and a school lab technician who cycled the full length of the country are already looking for a bigger and better challenge to take on next year. Colin Stonehouse and Roger Hartley who works at Caedmon School did a sponsored bike ride from John O’Grouts to Land’s End. Mr Stonehouse set out on the trek to help provide specialist treatment for his niece, Grace, who was born with Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy. She has been attending a rehabilitation centre in Poland since 2008, which has already greatly improved her condition but with no government funding to support this procedure, her family need much help to raise the £8,000 necessary. Mr Hartley completed the bike ride to help support the Scarborough and Ryedale Mountain Rescue Team, of which he is a volunteer member. The team also rely solely on donations to carry out the many rescues and medical procedures that are needed in all sorts of incidents around the local area. The bike ride itself, from the most northern tip of Scotland to the very south of England was approximately 900 miles long and took the two cyclists 12 days. The project began on 25 July, with the pair biking all through the day and stopping off in nearby villages for the night. According to Mr Stonehouse, they were “very lucky with the weather”, and the sun was shining for most of the ride. However, there were of course some bumps along the way, and he added that the task was “both physically, and mentally challenging.” At the most difficult part of the route, Shap Summit in Cumbria, they had to bike uphill for four hours, with only one hour back down.And on the last and second to last day they copped for two punctures but fortunately the pair had the equipment necessary to fix the problem and reach the finishing line unscathed. Mr Stonehouse added: “It took a lot of hard work and a year of training but it was nice to see the countryside and the whole trip was very enjoyable”. Although they have finished the ride, it is definitely not the end. Last year they had done a coast to coast walk and they are now planning a new, and yet more difficult task to take on. To find out more information about the ride, or to make a donation towards Grace’s treatment or the Scarborough and Ryedale Mountain Rescue Team, visit http://www.justgiving.com/roge-hartley or go to The Station Inn, New Quay Road, Whitby. You can also text GRAC63 followed by the amount of money you wish to donate. Footnote: They are currently 64% of http://www.gracesrmrtcharityride.blogspot.com/
the
way
to
their
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£3234.00
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donations.
-3What have we been up to this month? nd
2 John Hart passed the assessment to join the call out list rd
3 Assessment evening for find site, helicopter video and BLS th
6 Roger and Colin (the live one) completed JOG to LE th
7 Roger on harboorgh.fm th
7 Search call out - walker overdue walking Saltergate circuit, returned safe and well as we deployed
Saltergate circuit
th
13 Wykeham Whizz th
14 Filey Emergency services day th
17 Training evening - control vehicles th
18 Marketing presentation to the committee th
20 Goathland Flower and Veg show (donation) st
21 Training and assessment day - banksman, vac mat, immediate cas care, basic ropes and (cancelled) find site. st
21 Search call out Sandsend vulnerable Subsequently found by NYP with minor injuries.
person.
Planned activities - September th
29 (Bank Holiday Monday) possible shadow of Adidas Terrex C2C as it heads to Robin Hoods Bay (Mike Woodcock) st
1 Training evening th
4 Emergency services day th
15 Training evening th
18 Exercise / Training day th
18 Visit NYMBO Mountain Marathon (donation)
th
19 Talk to Hornsea YCA st
21 MAFSC meeting th
24 Tin rattle Helmsley th
30 Saltergate circuit preparation st
1 October - Saltergate circuit
-4Media coverage
Marketing
This month we have had at least nine articles or team mentions in the local press. We have appeared in the Scarborough Evening News, Whitby Gazette and Filey and Hunmanby Mercury. We have also appeared twice on the Whitby Gazette web site. Articles covered call outs, training, fundraising and Chris and John joining the callout list. In addition Roger had a slot on the radio and appeared on the Whitby Gazette web site. Copies of these articles are uploaded on Facebook at facebook.com/scarrescue.
Deborah Goodall of AER8.Marketing presented her views to the committee this month on how we can better market the team. Deborah has kindly agreed to continue to work with us to develop this strategy and the key points are below.
Twitter and Facebook continue to be popular. Our twitter account is being followed by 130 people around the world, our Facebook page has 77 ‘real’ fans and is ‘liked’ by 9 other pages. These range from UK and USA rescue teams through local businesses and travel organisations. Since establishing the Facebook page earlier this month we have had in excess of 13,500 hits on the page with most posts attracting between 90 and 400 hits. We can help spread the word by a retweet of content to our personal circles of followers. In Facebook then please ‘like’ or comment on news which we post. Equally if you have something to say then please add relevant content to the page. Time will tell how effective the ‘new media’ world is for team profile and fundraising but initial results are positive.
We have work to do to get in front of our potential ‘customers’ and supporters. We have an untapped market of outdoor enthusiasts (we have previous tried but need to refocus). There is another opportunity with the tourist market (380, 000 people visited Dalby in 2009 – if they all gave us a pound….) Can we get other organisations to organise events (walks etc) and donate the proceeds? 60,000 visitor bedspaces in ‘moor and coast’ region - another untapped opportunity for fundraising? More focus on attracting a couple of big corporates.
Richard Anderson’s sister, Claire Smith is the Senior Sales Executive with the Gazette and Herald and has kindly offered to help us. Thanks for the introduction Richard.
Mike Pannett’s new book, ‘Just the job, Lad’ has a nice mention for all the North Yorkshire volunteer rescue teams.
I intend to follow up with all this after I return from holiday mid-September and have already have had a couple of offers of help from team members. Anyone else who is interested then please drop me a line.
Notices
QR Codes
Pete is always on the lookout for tombola prizes. Leave them on the bench in the corridor at the base. We recycle toner cartridges and mobile phones. Leave them on the bench in the corridor at the base. Control now has a wire loop and padlock to secure the generator when deployed in public area. The next newsletter will be at the end of September, please let me have any content you want including by midSeptember. We can only advertise or report on what we know.
What are the strange blocks of black dots on page 3? They are known as QR (Quick Response) codes and allow people with smartphones running suitable (free) software to take a picture of the image, decode it and, if a web link, browse straight to that link. The codes on page 3 take you to the Saltergate circuit web site, our twitter site and our Facebook page. Not only do these allow us to link printed advertising to the web they also give us another way to engage with members of the public
Ian Hugill Aug 2011