Mountain rescue team hunts for new recruits

Successful applicants will receive a year of training in search skills, radio communications, pre-hospital medical care, technical rescue skills, working with helicopters and winter skills before graduating to the call-out list.

Once on the call-out list, the team’s highly-trained volunteers respond to incidents at the request of the emergency services when the team’s specialist skills are required.

Calls for assistance include not only searches for, and rescues of, walkers, fell/trail runners, mountain bikers and other outdoor enthusiasts in the uplands of Northumberland, but also the search and rescue of missing children and vulnerable adults in rural and urban settings.

NNPMRT provides a search and rescue service for the whole of the Northumbria Police area, which covers 2,159 square miles – the largest area covered by any Mountain Rescue team in England.

The Team is particularly interested in receiving applications from those living or working in the Wooler, Alnwick and Rothbury areas and along the Tyne Valley west of Newcastle, including the Bellingham area.

Those wanting to apply should be physically fit and confident in their own ability to navigate safely, settled in the region and aged between 18 and 70 for insurance reasons. Contact [email protected]The deadline for applications is the end of this month. Interviews and an initial hill skills assessment will take place in April.