Search and rescue volunteers celebrate 50 years

A volunteer search and rescue team is celebrating 50 years of saving lives.

The Ashburton branch of Dartmoor Search and Rescue is on call 24/7 every day of the year to assist emergency services with the search and rescue of lost, missing, injured and vulnerable people.

Yearly operations cost between £60-£65,000 and it is run solely by volunteers. The team train together once a week on Dartmoor in Devon and have been called out more than 30 times per year for the past decade.

Chairman Kevin Chamberlain said he was very proud of all the work the team did and that volunteers had gone from "strength to strength" over the years.

He said: "Bear in mind all mountain rescue started as just a bunch of volunteer walkers and climbers who got together to go and help people out when they needed help.

"Since then we've developed quite a lot, we've developed a lot more skills - we have members who are trained in water rescue, so dealing with flooding situations, so the whole mountain rescue idea has been very much expanded over those 50 years."

Tina England fell down a 15ft (4.5m) sheer rock face into the River Dart on Father's Day.

She said without the volunteers, "it could have ended so differently".

"If they hadn't found me, if they hadn't had a team to rescue me, I have no idea how I would have got off the site and I was in such a lot of pain," she said.

England was found by search and rescue dog Binny.

Owner Christopher Tuckett said he and his pup loved what they did.

He said: "It's the best feeling ever really, that you've actually found someone that could have been out there and really in bad distress but it's so great to see them work as well," he said.

Catherine Oakley said joining the team was personal after they saved her daughter in 2012.

She said: "I took my children swimming in the Dart up at Sharrah Pool and my middle one, who was then 12, jumped into the river and landed on a rock on her knee.

"She didn't initially realise how bad it was, but she'd actually fractured her patella, so after telling her you'll be fine, after about 20 minutes I realised she wouldn't be.

"We had to call for help and then eventually the team came in and I could see that these guys were having a lot of fun and it really inspired me to join."

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