Lining up with the new Patterdale MRT Land Rover are, from left: Daryl Garfield; David Allan; Martin Cotterell, Patterdale MRT team leader; Andy Gunther of NWPCC; John Williams and Dave Freeborn both Patterdale MRT members

A very special wedding present is now helping to save the lives of outdoor enthusiasts.

The unique gift – an off-road vehicle – was passed on by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to mountain rescuers following the pair’s marriage in April and has been put into service on the Lakeland fells.

Land Rover donated the vehicle to Prince William and Kate Middleton in the run-up to the wedding, and the prince, who is patron of Mountain Rescue England and Wales, decided the charity would be the ideal recipient.

David Allan, chairman of the organisation, said: “We arranged for the names of the 50 or so teams to be put in a hat and then, on his brother’s behalf, Prince Harry picked out a winner at a recent meeting of the Princes’ Charities Forum.

“Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team is based in a beautiful but challenging part of the Lake District and the team’s members were involved in a record number of rescues in 2010 – more than 80.

“Since the draw, they’ve been liaising with Land Rover and others over the equipment for the new vehicle and have also arranged to pass on one of their Land Rovers to another team, Glossop MRT in the Peak District.”

Prince William on Swirral Edge, Helvellyn, during his time with mountain rescue teams in 2009

Coincidentally, the Patterdale team hosted a visit by the prince two years ago during which William made the ascent of Helvellyn, the highest mountain in its area and a hotspot for rescues, in the company of Lake District mountain rescuers and members of the Centrepoint charity, of which the prince is also patron.

The Land Rover Defender 110 Utility Wagon was modified at the North Wales Police Commissioning Centre in Deeside with extra off road capability, high visibility livery and emergency services warning systems.

Huw Jones of the centre said: “We’ve worked on similar conversions over the past six years, but we always knew that this one would be high profile because of the back story to the original donation of the vehicle.”

The finished vehicle was handed over to members of Patterdale MRT on Saturday, as part of an open day at NWPCC, attended by representatives of Jaguar Land Rover, Mountain Rescue England and Wales, and team members from about 15 of the volunteer search and rescue teams across England and Wales.

Daryl Garfield, national vehicles officer for Mountain Rescue England and Wales and an active member of Penrith MRT added: “This Land Rover is a bit special and it was excellent to be able to showcase the work done at Deeside as part of the handover.

“It is great that two teams are benefiting as one of Patterdale’s vehicles heads to Glossop very soon. I don’t think there’s a rescue team in the country that doesn’t use a Land Rover in its work.”