Appeals Donations

Mountain Rescue Appeals

Kinder Mountain Rescue Team, along with all other mountain rescue teams relies on public donations to fund our operations. This page lists our current appeals. These are large scale items that we need to purchase to improve our operational capability. They are over and above the general costs of running the mountain rescue team.

New rescue headquarters - Gateway to Kinder

Kinder Mountain Rescue - The need for change

In Mountain Rescue, the level of professionalism and operational capability is increasing year on year. Kinder Mountain Rescue Team is part of this trend. We are seeing both an increase in the number of callouts and a wider range of operations, from the traditional mountain search and rescue to lowland/rural search operations for vulnerable missing persons. To meet these increasing requirements, the Kinder team needs to move to a larger, better equipped base.
We are currently working with Derbyshire County Council and the Hayfield Parish Community on the development of new facilities for the old station site in Hayfield. These facilities will include a one-stop countryside base containing a number of countryside services including a new headquarters for Kinder Mountain Rescue Team. The project is called Gateway to Kinder.

Our current rescue base

Our current rescue base is the equivalent of two double garages, side by side. Half of this space is a single room used as a meeting and training room. It also contains a sink and water heater, allowing us to provide hot drinks. During a callout everyone involved congregates here. This includes team members, other operational personnel, the casualties and their friends/relatives.

The other half of the rescue base contains a very small operations room used by the team leader and deputies to run the rescue operation. The team leader consults and briefs hill party leaders here. Finally, the base radio is here, so the radio operator is also in the room. A small storage room is used for specialist kit, including first aid kits and radios and their chargers. The rest of the space is taken up storing team equipment, including hill party kits, first aid equipment, rescue equipment and the team lighting, with chargers.

This is no longer adequate to support our operations. The main problems with it are:

• There is nowhere to park the two team Landrovers. This means that the vehicles are parked elsewhere and must be driven to the base and extra equipment loaded before they can be used on a callout.
• The meeting/training room is too small to accommodate the full team. Team training in these cramped conditions is difficult, especially as much of the training is practical. On callouts, it is difficult to brief and debrief the team.
• There is no separate room for casualties and their relatives/friends. During an operation there can be activity which is disturbing to the relatives/friends, for example overhearing radio messages or seeing hill parties returning to base, especially if the news is not good. The activities of the base staff can also be inhibited by working round casualties and their relatives/friends. At the end of a callout, the team is always debriefed. This allows all members of the team to be fully aware of the outcome, to review the operation together and learn any lessons for the future. This is very difficult in the presence of casualties and/or relatives/friends.
• There is no clinical treatment area to carry out first aid before the transfer of casualties to road ambulance.
• There are no toilet, washing or changing facilities.
• There are no cleaning facilities, nor a drying room for wet gear.
• The operations room is too cramped to accommodate all the personnel needed to run a search and rescue operation.

Water rescue equipment

The team recently has had to purchase equipment to allow team members to work more safely near water and this has necessitated the purchase of water rescue equipment. The picture shows the team training with the new euipment. We need about £2,000 to cover the costs of this equipment.

Computer Equipment

In order to function effectively the team needs to use computers for planning and organising searches and rescues. We currently use second-hand computers that are showing their age and have an appeal for a small, two/three machine, network for our headquarters. The cost, using new equipment, is likely to be considerably less than £2,000.

If you can help on these items please contact the treasurer in the first instance.