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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.
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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!
Every Wednesday night throughout the year the Dartmoor Search & Rescue Team – Ashburton meets at various locations across the moor to train on aspects of search and rescue. During the summer months, this tends to be the more technical aspects such as rope and swift water rescue, with the wild and dark winter evenings spent training on search and rescue exercise (sar-ex) scenarios as well as navigation and related topics
Typically trainee members of the Dartmoor Search & Rescue Team – Ashburton undergo a training period of between 12 – 18 months, and if the training is completed successfully they are presented with their team jackets as they become fully fledged members.
The second weekend in May every year is ‘The Ten Tors Weekend’ when 2400 14 – 19 year olds tackle 10 tors on routes of either 35, 45 or 55 miles over 2 days. Not forgetting the Jubilee event where another 300 or so youngsters with varying degrees of disability tackle their own Ten Tors. Although I have been involved with Ten Tors on and off in various capacities over the last 30+ years, this was my first year as a fully qualified member of the Dartmoor Search & Rescue Team, Ashburton.
In the early to mid 80’s, I was part of the Dartmoor Rescue Group, Okehampton Section until work commitments got in the way. About 2 years ago I decided the time was right to rejoin so I applied to rejoin a Dartmoor Search & Rescue Team, but this time the one based at Ashburton.
As many of you know, I am currently trainee member of the Dartmoor Search & Rescue Team based at Ashburton. Recent promotion to a Senior Trainee has meant I am now on the callout list and on December the 14th that first callout came.
Wednesday night is training night, and last Wednesday was a joint training session with the Cave Rescue guys around some iron mines in the Teign Valley. An interesting evening as the 2 teams worked together on exercises extracting caving casualty’s to safety.
The exercise had come to a close and it was time for a quick pint before going home. On the way back to the car however a callout text was broadcast to search for an elderly man in his mid 80’s who had gone missing near Kingsbridge in South Devon.
So instead of a cosy Teign Valley pub it was an hour drive to the Rendevous (RV) at the village hall in Galmpton to pick up our briefing. Arriving at just after midnight, the car park was teeming with Police, Coastguard and Dartmoor Rescue Team vehicles. Also arriving was a band of strong winds squally showers of rain and hail, as well as a lightening display to the East.
The Search Manager was already in dialogue with the Police commanders as to understanding what state of mind the missing person was in. This is to ascertain his probable behaviour and hence where he is most likely to be and is a science in itself. This information is vital as an individual may not want to be found – a suicide for instance – as opposed to a dimentia sufferer who has just got themself lost of disorientated.
Once the search strategy had been agreed, the DRG members were allocated into teams and headed out to search their allocated areas. The ground our team of 4 covered was farmland, a mixture of hedgerow, ditches, fields and crops, and we stretched out into lines to cover as much ground as thoughly and as quickly as we could. It was a long night and the wind was relentless. Having covered our area with no sign of the individual, we returned to base around 05:30am and handed over to the next shift to continue the search in the other areas yet to be covered.
Having worked all the previous day, the exercise the previous evening and the all night search straight after, tiredness was beginning to kick in that even Nigel’s ultra strength ‘Java Lava’ expresso couldn’t revive, so it was home to grab a couple of hours sleep before going to work.
It was disappointing not to have found the missing person, and even more sad and disappointing when he was found later that day in one of the final areas to be covered, and unfortunately had passed away. He was found by a rescue team search dog and his handler.
All in all Police, Coastguards, Dartmoor Rescue Team Members, Search Dogs and the Police helicopter had been involved in the search. When you see the number of search dog handlers and the other rescue team members, who had all given up their time voluntarily to search for somebody they didn’t know throughout the night in gail force winds, it restores your faith in human nature.
About the Dartmoor Search & Rescue Team – Ashburton.
The Dartmoor Search & Rescue Team based in Ashburton Devon, is a registered charity (number 1106098) completely funded by the generosity of the public providing a vital search & rescue service in Devon
Although the police have the ultimate responsibility for responding to and investigating reports of missing persons, they will often request the services of volunteer Search and Rescue organisations such as Ashburton Dartmoor Search & Rescue team to assist in such matters.
The team’s responsibility covers the highland areas of Dartmoor to the fringes of the Devon coast, where the coastguard takes over. Hence their search and rescue operations can cover both rural and urban areas.
One key element about the team is that they are a voluntary organisation that relies on the valued time and effort of its team members. They also rely on kind donations from industry and the public plus fundraising activities by its members.
The team members include a wide diversity of professionals, including A&E consultants, social care workers and electronics engineers and are on call 24x7x365.
You can donate to the team’s good work at http://www.everyclick.com/alpew
This past weekend was a busy one for the Dartmoor Search & Rescue team (Ashburton), with 2 callouts and attending 2 events to both raise awareness of the team and provide support to a public event.
On Saturday September 24th, the Dartmoor Search & Rescue Team Ashburton Section, held the grand opening of its new Rescue Centre. Its first permanent base in its 35 year history.
Every year in May the Ten Tors Expedition takes place on Dartmoor.
The Ten Tors challenge began in 1960 with just 203 children taking part and has grown to the 2400 that it is today. It is open to teams of 6 teenagers between the ages of 14 – 20 with 400 teams from the South West of England and beyond participating each year…….. Continue reading
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