The late May bank holiday weekend saw some fantastic weather, perfect for getting out on the hills. It also gave us the chance to raise money for the Mountain Rescue teams around our stores.
Whilst we couldn’t think of a better reason to make the most of it and enjoy the outdoors, we hope you enjoyed yourselves! Throughout the long weekend we were of course delighted to see lots of you popping into our stores, where it was wonderful to be able to raise so much money for the their respective local Mountain Rescue Teams by donating 10% of sales through the Alpkit Foundation.
Edale MRT leader Dave Torr was certainly busy up at our Hathersage store. Not just fundraising either!
"It was a glorious weekend but unfortunately we were inundated with callouts which hit our street fundraising quite a bit. Yet people were interacting with us at Hathersage and saying that they had waited especially for the weekend so their purchase would help the team! We also had people saying what a fantastic initiative to do this to support Mountain Rescue teams around the country."
So with restrictions easing further as we head towards summer, it is inevitably going to see an increase in people heading out. This was a fantastic opportunity to help raise some extra funds and say thank you to the work of the MRT’s.
Helena, North of Tyne MRT secretary summarises the importance of ongoing support.
"It's absolutely fantastic that Alpkit is supporting Mountain Rescue teams, in recognition of the work our volunteers do to search for and rescue people in need. Since COVID, there have been extra challenges for teams to overcome such as the need to wear additional PPE and adhere to many new protocols. In addition to this, many of our normal fundraising streams dried up, so the support received is all the more welcome and helps us to continue providing an essential emergency service."
NNPMRT - Steel Rigg, Hadrian’s Wall
Northumberland National Park MRT Fundraising officer Ninette Edwards reported a busy weekend too. "There were 10 incidents that weekend and over half-term, including a leg injury whilst descending from Auchope Cairn on the Pennine Way, a high risk missing person from Gateshead, a leg injury along Military Way, a cyclist who sustained a lower leg injury when they came off their bike in the Kielder area, as well as support for a wildfire at Kyloe Wood! "
We recently chatted to some of the teams about how their last year had been and looking forward to when those restrictions ease and the summer welcomes more into the hills. You can read more about how the teams have been doing HERE.
The worry is of course that MR teams capacities to respond could be put under more strain once again, as Nick Owen, Team leader at Langdale MRT reflects on last summer.
"With fabulous summer weather, ‘staycations’ and a big increase in daytrippers saw a big jump in last August incidents, and the last year has definitely been the most demanding year I can recall but the effort put in by team members has been phenomenal and much appreciated.
Rescue #25 Grasmere Great North Air Ambulance Service
This bank holiday in the Lakes was very busy and it's great to see new people discovering the area we all love and hopefully we can get information out so they can enjoy it safely. However it also meant a busy time for us and other Lake District mountain rescue teams.
Starting around lunchtime on Friday we had 7 call outs over the weekend, ranging from a female who collapsed at How Head, to a parascender who crashed on the slopes of Harrison Stickle. A big thanks to Kendal Mountain Rescue Team for taking on our 4th call out of the day on Sunday for an injured dog at Three Tarns, especially as the first call out on Monday was at a bleary eyed 5:45am! We’re now at 30 rescues for this year."
So saying a thank you to all those keeping watch is even more important than ever as we ramp up towards a summer of fun.
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