The Woodhead team covers the moorland which the Tour de France will pass through

The Woodhead team covers the moorland which the Tour de France will pass through

A mountain rescue team celebrating its 50th anniversary will demonstrate its skills as part of the national Mountain and Cave Rescue Awareness Weekend.

Woodhead Mountain Rescue Team will share safety tips and demonstrate how to use a map and navigate at the event in Barnsley town centre tomorrow.

The team, based south of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, is bracing itself for a big increase in the number of visitors to the area when the Tour de France grand départ comes to Yorkshire in July.

The team said it is striving to raise awareness of its voluntary role within the modern-day emergency services and general hill safety for members of the public.

Team leader Keith Wakeley said: “We look forward to this event every year as we get the opportunity to raise awareness of what we do and why.

“Local people are still surprised to hear they have their own mountain rescue team on hand to help out with many different situations.

“Our primary function is to provide a search and rescue service in upland mountainous areas, but we also assist both the Yorkshire Ambulance Service and local police forces in casualty extraction and searches for vulnerable people in a lowland environment.

“This year with the grand départ coming to Yorkshire in July it’s vitally important that we take every opportunity to raise awareness of the conditions and terrain that some people, who may not be used to it, will come across in their quest to gain a viewing advantage.

“It’s also really important that people know what to do if they then find themselves in a situation out with their control.”

The team has recently seen an increase in non-hill-based callouts when it helped emergency services in casualty extraction and semi-rural searches.

The Woodhead team will be in Barnsley town centre and Cannon Hall Museum grounds from 11am to 4pm tomorrow, 3 May.

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