The important role of search and rescue volunteers

Finding the lost missing injured and vulnerable

All images copyright of Dartmoor Search and Rescue Ashburton

Dartmoor Search and Rescue Ashburton specialise in finding the lost, injured and vulnerable

Dartmoor Search and Rescue Ashburton is a volunteer search and rescue charity, affiliated to Mountain Rescue England and Wales (MREW), who find the lost, missing injured and vulnerable, not just on Dartmoor but across Devon and to major incidents nationally.

Called out by

Search and rescue with a bit of detective work

Search and rescue with a difference

Panasonic Lumix TZ7

Each Wednesday evening the Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team at Ashburton meets for its weekly training session at various locations across the moor and Wednesday the 3rd April was a navigation themed evening which turned into a successful find without the need for a stretcher.

Meeting at Hexworthy Drift we split into groups of 3 and 4 and were given various points to find as part of the navigation theme for the evening. Our team found our first few points and about 9pm in the dark we started to head back to the start from Mount Misery.

Following no set path but walking on a bearing across difficult ground of wet grass tussocks in the dark, John, one of the 3 in our group, spotted a small black Lowe Alpine bag, about the size 5 inches long and 3 inches wide lying in the grass. An amazing find at anytime and the chances of coming across it must have been millions to 1. But, the story doesn’t end there.

Me being a self-professed geek and the team webmaster and social media man, decided I would try and track down the owner. The camera, a small Lumix DZ7, no longer worked thanks to the Dartmoor wet, but the memory card was readable. Examining the photos on the computer I found pictures of 3 adults on a bivvy weekend on the moor – presumably just before they lost the camera – and a family holiday in Torquay. Not much to go on so far but the 3rd set of pictures gave me hope. They showed what appeared to be a school sports day and the vital clue was some of the children participating were wearing school polo shirts.

Zooming in on one of the polo shirts showed a logo with text, and the text was just readable giving a name of a school. Armed with this information I got on to Google and the first result showed the name of the school with the same logo in Bournemouth.

An email to the school received a reply with the name of the family and an email address. Bingo! An email conversation followed and the camera and memory card was returned to its owner. Result!

A follow up is that the owner was interviewed on BBC Radio Solent about the amazing story and is apparently due to be back on the moor this weekend. Lets hope he doesn’t drop anything!

Saddened at the lack of respect from the BHF

In December 2012 my mother passed away. Following her passing I, along with my sister, have been going through all the necessary hoops to sort out her estate. One such task was to sell her bungalow and in the meantime find homes for her possessions including the furniture  Rather than sell we decided it would be a nice idea to donate her furniture to a deserving charity. Unfortunately our experience of the British Heart Foundation (BHF) proved to be far from what we expected.

Our preferred charity, the Prospect Hospice in Swindon, was unable to collect the furniture on the day in question due to an issue with their vehicle and hence we looked for another suitable recipient and the British Heart Foundation seemed to be a good 2nd choice. I rang the Furniture and Electrical shop in Swindon to arrange for collection and straight away began to doubt my choice. I left a message and nobody rang me back so rang again where the phone was this time answered. I explained I wanted them to collect items of furniture later that week following the passing of my Mum. They started to say that we would send somebody out on the Friday to look at what they wanted and would arrange a follow up to collect. Feeling slightly offended at the way this came across I said that they either came out to pick it up on Friday or I would go to somebody else who wanted it. They then duly arranged to come out and pick it up Friday.

The day came and unfortunately I had a business commitment that meant my partner would stay at the house to meet them between their window of 9am and 1pm. No further communication from them gave us any idea if we were on the start or end of the run and when we just about to give up they arrived almost on the dot of 1pm.

Immediately my partner said she felt angry and upset at their lack of respect for my Mum’s good quality furniture as they went around ‘slapping’ labels on what they would accept and dismissing the bed which had a slight mark on the mattress. She was also upset at their indifference and the fact we were donating good quality furniture to them which would help them raise funds and they seemed to think they were doing us a favour.

We almost decided to tell them to stuff it, in hindsight I wish I had, but we didn’t, so they took what they wanted away and that was that.

I don’t know what I expected really other than to be treated courteously and have some respect for the passing of my Mum and the items we were donating to them that were of value to her and something she had looked after. They will no doubt make well over £500 profit from selling the items. If I had sent another charity a cheque for that amount then I would expect, and receive,  an acknowledgement letter thanking me for the donation at this difficult time and telling me how much good use the money will be put to.  It appears that if you donate furniture to the British Heart Foundation then expecting respect and a thank you will perhaps be a tad optimistic. Perhaps, as their website boasts, being the ‘biggest secondhand furniture and electrical retailer in the Country’ selling ‘good quality new and secondhand furniture and electrical goods’ has meant they have become too big and have lost that personal touch.

Take note BHF Swindon. Treat people with courtesy and respect and they will support you. It’s not difficult.

I have emailed the BHF and we will see what happens.   Unfortunately its too late for us but hopefully if you are considering donating to them you can decide if they are worthy of your donation. It’s a shame as I am sure they do a lot of good work and having a mild heart condition myself I am clearly keen for them to support heart related research.

Incidentally the BHF shop comcerned in Swindon has a bit of a reputation as I have recounted my story to various people about our experience and was told that they have a bit of a form. So if you donate items or even buy furniture there, you have been warned.

Conversely I can’t recommend the Prospect Hospice charity shop at The Link Centre in Swindon highly enough. Very courteous and understanding and above all very grateful for any donations big or small that we have made to them. They will be the benefactors from the rest of the furniture in the house and any other items we can find.