Team Changeover to New Pagers in time for Last Rescue of 2004

Friday 31st December 2004

For the past 15 years the team has been executing callouts through a paging system.  Initially Multitone but then BT O2 pagers.  All part of the kind support from local employers BNFL, Sellafield.  Autumn of 2004 brought the bad news that O2 paging was going to cease from 31 December 2004.  A big problem for Sellafield (over 3,000 pagers), but also a problem for the team (50 pagers).  Thankfully, BNFL agreed to continue supporting the team and provided the replacement pagers, fully configured by 24th December.  New Year's Eve was going to be a testing time for the newly commissioned pagers but we did not think it would be put to the test within hours of being introduced.   The new Vodafone pagers are slightly smaller than the ones they are replacing.  They do however have much greater functionality and we are hoping that they are able to pick up signals as well as, if not better than, the old ones.  The last rescue on the old pager system was 'poignantly' and possibly 'appropriately' on New Year's Eve 2004.  The extract from the rescue is detailed here along with some photographs taken after the rescue.  Photos of the old and new pagers are captured below with the rescue message that came up at 5.16 pm that evening.  Both pagers were actually being worn at the time [sad but effective - and very noisy].

5/4:31/12/04 (5.16 pm) - Friday

Call from Workington Police to rescue three walkers who had become stuck on Scafell.  The lady and two males, all in their 30's had set off from Wasdale Head at 10.00 am that morning to walk Scafell.  They had climbed up to Mickledore ridge before descending via Cam Spout into upper Eskdale.  They then walked back to Wasdale via Sampson's Stones and up over the shoulder of Slightside.  They eventually ran out of light on the western slopes of  Scafell and called for help on their mobile.  From the information available at the time, the focus of the search was the western slopes.  If this had proved unsuccessful the team would extend the search boundaries.  Fortunately the missing persons were located relatively quickly thanks to the efforts of Rosie, Stephen Walter's recently assessed Search Dog.  This is the second find in the past few weeks and a credit to Stephen and Rosie.  

The missing group were walked safely off the mountain although great care was necessary crossing the swollen rivers and very marshy ground in the region of Burnmoor tarn.  The group were back at the vehicles by 10.30 pm.  The owner of the Wasdale Head Inn invited the team back for Hogmany drinks and a good nosh up (many thanks Howard).  This was particularly appreciated as we had all missed out on the evenings drinking, eating and new year's eve celebrations. As this was the last rescue of the year and also the last rescue that would be alerted on the old 02 pager system I thought it fitting to have a general news page with some pictures of the rescue.

Two of the missing walkers with Rosie, one of the team's three search dogs.  This was Rosie's second find since successfully passing her assessment as a fully trained search  dog some weeks earlier.
Rosie and Stephen, her owner and handler, safely back at the vehicles.  For more pictures and stories about Rosie see here
Julian, Team Leader with the walkers back at the Wasdale Head Inn
		Team members back down off the hill and tucking into some much needed refreshments
Husband and wife team members, Sue and John lay into the steak and ale pie with compliments of the Wasdale Head Hotel - thanks Howard
And speaking of the man himself - owner of the Wasdale Head Inn and key supporter and past Deputy Team Leader of the team - cheers Howard