A Northumberland village is supporting its local mountain rescue team as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
A floral display has been created in Rothbury to mark the Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team’s half century, and residents, groups and businesses are fundraising for the team.
Rothbury Parish Council has created the Mountain Rescue England and Wales logo with plants in a prominent central location within the village and a plaque next to the flower bed installed by the Northumberland National Park Authority provides a history of the formation of the team following tragic events in 1965 where two shepherds perished in a blizzard.
In the past year, people living in Rothbury have helped raise funds for the rescuers by buying team-produced Christmas cards, sold through Shepherds Walks, a local business offering guided walks, challenge events and walking holidays. The company also donated a proportion of the entry for fees to the team, with its volunteers providing rescue cover for events such as the St Cuthbert’s Way challenge walk.
Two pubs in Rothbury, the Turk’s Head and the Queen’s Head, are celebrating the golden anniversary by stocking the craft beer Curlew’s Rescue which has been brewed by Allendale Brewery for the celebratory year. The brewery is donating 10p from every pint to the Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team.
The Queens Head also held a fundraising musical event, featuring Tom O’Donnell, to celebrate the anniversary.
Members of the rescue team provided demonstrations to Rothbury Scouts and Beavers, and have in the past given presentations to pupils of Rothbury First School.
The team said: “This, our 50th year, has also been one of our busiest with 45 incidents to date involving over 1,000 hours of volunteer time.
“Six of these incidents have been in the hills surrounding Rothbury as well as further up the Coquet Valley including a collapsed walker on Beacon Hill near to Simonside; overdue mountain bikers in the Kidland Forest area, and a couple in their 50s who were stranded in snow in the car at Chew Green.
“Over the past few years the team has also been involved in the Rothbury floods in 2008 and 2009, the snow events transporting community nurses and patients in and around the Coquet valley, and the search for Raoul Moat in 2010.
“The team feels very much part of the community, not least because six team members live in or near the village.”