Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Diary
Monday 5th December
Scoop - KMRT does drugs!! No, really it's OK. We're on our Casualty Care training tonight and we're revising the drugs that we carry. We split into twos and threes and are allocated a drug each. Pete and I get Volterol - not the most exciting drug in the pack. We write down what it is (moderate pain relief and anti-inflammatory), when to use it (sprains and minor breaks), contra-indications ( ulcers, asthma), side effects (worsens ulcers, possible wheezing).
Each group presents a summary of their drug and we have a brief discussion about each one. We're worried and nervous when Hamish walks to the front carrying a surgical glove and a tube of diazimul (apply rectally in the case of prolonged fitting). Fortunately, he talks us through the procedure rather giving a practical demonstation.
Steve, Steve and Janet were given salbutamol, an anti-asthma drug, to investigate. This was supposed to be a theoretical exercise, but maybe we need to check just what's left in the kit that they had....
In an alarming development, the pub's run out of beer so we potter off to the Royal for a change. Peter take's the opportunity to berate me about the mis'placed apostrophe's that have made regular appearances' in the diary. It's a shame the standard of writing is so poor. Luckily, there's an opening for a new diary author for our 2006 edition. Just let me know...
Saturday 10th December
The team are on a fundraising collection at Decathlon, the outdoor superstore in Stockport. I pick the landrover up and drive it to Stockport. Alison follows me in her car as she's not sure of the route. I'm sitting waiting for the lights to change in the middle of Stockport when there's a frantic wrapping at the window. I can't believe that the squeejy (spelling?) merchants have arrived here. It turns out that Alison's car has ground to a halt. With the help of a good samaritan, we push the car across three lanes of traffic, get it started and carry on the journey.
No sooner have we got on the motorway than I spot distressed looking lady with a young child in her arms, walking down the hardshoulder. Being the fourth emergency service, we stop to help out. The lady and child are OK, just shaken up after hitting something on the road, causing a front tyre blowout and the airbags to go off. She phone's vehicle rescue and soon the police arrive to look after her. I have a sporty moment getting the landrover back into the traffic flow (0-60 in several minutes) and we're soon at Decathlon.
I'm berated by Vinnie and Chris for arriving late, but point out that we've already dealt with two emergencies en route. Alison, Neil, Vinnie and I present happy smiley faces to the Decathlon customers. It must work as we get a regular stream of donations. Later in the morning an animal sanctuary charity pitches up next to us. Sadly, it seems that KMRT members come a poor second to a couple of donkeys in the popularity stakes. (Write your own KMRT/Donkey jokes in here).
We leave at 12.30 as new members arrive for their rota slot. All in all, a worthwhile weekend as we raise over £900 for the team. Thanks to decathlon for their support.
Friday 16th December
Tonight is the traditional KMRT carol singing. A mixture of Christmas Do, community profile raising and fundraising. We meet in the hut for a rehearsal and warm up at 7.30 (yes really - if you thought we were rough, you should have heard us before the rehearsal):
We have an eclectic band: guitars (Dave 'the hat' Yates and Ken), flute (Dave B), whistle (Howard) and banjo (Chrissie). As I don't know what 'This one's in A' means, I decide to leave my guitar and whistle at home. Geoff reads a couple of uplifting messages from people we have rescued recently. Feeling suitably uplifted, we move on to the public arena.
We start at the George, our home pub and move on to the Pack Horse, Royal, Cricket Club ( by special request of the Penine Running Club), Conservative Club, Kinder Lodge and back to the George. Here we are at the Cricket Club. Note the highly enthusiastic audience joining in the fun:
By the time we get back to the George, after all that practice and all those pints we're sounding absolutely fantastic. Charlie and I stagger back along the Sett Valley trail at around 1.30 with the obligatory curry.
Sunday 18th December
It's 7.00 in the evening and I'm sitting at the computer writing the carol singing entry when my phone goes off. It's a callout. It looks like we're back on track after our quiet summer. When I get to the hut, it turns out that somebody heard a distress whistle in the region of the Northern Edges of the Kinder Plateau and called us out.
The first two parties set off to walk up William Clough and Sandy Heys. My party get a lift to Chunal and we walk up to Harry Hut and on to Mill Hill. We have 5-10m visibility, it's dark, raining and we periodically sink up to our knees in bogs, swamps and rivers. Marvellous.
At Ashop Head, we meet up with other Kinder Parties and end up doing a line search moving along the river below the Northern Edges in case the casualty has moved down from the plateau. We cover the south of the river, whilst Glossop Team cover north of the river. It's a nightmare, with steep ground, big groughs, rivers and marsh. Periodically, someone shouts a couple of choice swearwords as they crash to the ground or step into a bog. On average, the team preferred the carol singing to this.
Around 1.00 in the morning Darren decides that we covered the sensible area where anyone would have walked into. We ford the main river to get to the main path and walk down to the Snake road. There's a bit of milling around with vehicles and we eventually all end up back at the hut. A quick debrief (no-one's been found and there's no further intelligence, such as an abandoned car or a missing person report), so we all troop off. It's 3 in the morning when I get back home.
Thurs 29th Dec
The team has a callout to assist Glossop team with an injured walker at Blackden Clough. Sadly, I'm not available. Pete had persuaded me that we I really wanted to do at Christmas was camp in Langdale. I cann't believe that I agreed, especially as Pete managed to miss the night when it was minus 10!
I hope that you've all enjoyed the diary and that it's given some flavour of life in the Kinder team. Thanks to everyone who has contributed, by giving me pictures, ideas, not taking offence (thanks especially to Geoff here!) and for the positive comments.
Finally, anyone wondering who the mystery diary writer is, I'm on the left here, on the top of Pike O Stickle about the time that we got the callout.
