Cleveland Search & Rescue Team Recent News

Air Cadets help Search and Rescue Team

03 Feb 10


On Tuesday 2nd February 2010, Cleveland Search & Rescue team were presented with a cheque for £300:00 from a group of Air Cadets in Middlesbrough.
1869 (Middlesbrough) Squadron ATC, raised the money during 2009 with its fund raising activities.

CSRT recently visited the squadron and gave a presentation on the work of the team & took along one of the Land Rover ambulances to show the cadets, the equipment currently in use with the team.

Flying Officer Rob Gaw, the commanding officer of the squadron said “We are always pleased to support Cleveland Search & Rescue Team in their time of need. As with all charitable organisations, everyone is suffering in this economic climate. We would like to thank the people of Thornaby for their kind donations and all the help from our cadets’ who raised the money during recent events”

CSRT is currently undertaking a major challenge to raise £150,000 to refurbish its base near Great Ayton. The rescue team leader, Rob Johnson, said: “The refurbishment of our base and training facilities is a key factor in investing in the future of the team. This will enable us to continually improve and up-date our skills so that we can continue to serve the local and, not so local, community and provide the same professional approach to search and rescue over the next 44 years.



Left to Right - Allan Mann - Fg Officer Rob Gaw ( OC 1869 Squadron ATC) - Steve Crockley

Safety Reward Aids Search and Rescue Team

26 Jan 10

The Cleveland Search and Rescue Team is £500 better off thanks to the safety achievements of teams at Corus Teesside Power and Energy Department.

More than 100 people played their part in ensuring that the power teams reached a milestone of one year without a lost time injury (LTI). Team members nominated charities to receive a share of a £1000 safety achievement reward.

The Cleveland Search and Rescue Team (CSRT) was nominated for the LTI award by Gas Safety Officer, John Bollands, in memory of Glenn Smith, a member of the gas safety department who died tragically in 2009. The CSRT has received a donation of £500 and the remaining £500 is going to Brain Tumour UK.

Representatives of the CSRT visited Corus Teesside towards the end of last year to pick up their cheque and to talk about their work. Power station safety representatives were told that 2009 had been the rescue team’s busiest year in its 44-year history, with 43 incidents to date.

The CSRT’s ability to respond to incidents is the result of a rigorous training regime which requires team members to train every Wednesday evening and on five full weekends every year. But the commitment doesn’t end there. The team receives no official funding and is reliant on donations and fund-raising activity.

The CSRT is currently undertaking a major challenge to raise £150,000 to refurbish its base near Great Ayton. The rescue team leader, Rob Johnson, said: “The refurbishment of our base and training facilities is a key factor in investing in the future of the team. This will enable us to continually improve and up-date our skills so that we can continue to serve the local and, not so local, community and provide the same professional approach to search and rescue over the next 44 years.

“This award from Corus will go into the team’s base refurbishment fund.” Manufacturing Manager at Redcar Power Station, Mike Brooks, was one of the Corus representatives at the cheque presentation event. He paid tribute to everyone in the Power and Energy teams who had helped to ensure the LTI award. Mike said: “Everyone takes safety very seriously. It’s been a team effort and it’s notable that the one year LTI-free was achieved in a period when there were major overhauls of boilers and turbines.

“We have well-established safety routines and we maintain a high standard of housekeeping and carry out regular safety audits.”



Pictured left to right following the presentation of a cheque for £500 to the Cleveland Search and Rescue Team (CSRT) are: Corus Safety Rep, Steve Murray; Jason Armstrong and Dave Griffiths of the CSRT; Redcar Power Station Manufacturing Manager, Mike Brooks; CSRT members Barry Warrington and John Bollands who also works for Corus; Corus Safety Rep, Marty Blane, and Paul Bell of the CSRT.

Our Busiest Year on Record

14 Jan 10

The Cleveland Search and Rescue team has had its busiest year on record.

Last year, the volunteers dealt with a total of 44 incidents ranging from searching for Alzheimers suffers and rescuing injured walkers and mountain bikers, to rescuing a snow-trapped hiker and helping the search for missing York woman Claudia Lawrence.

However, one of the most tricky situations the volunteers found themselves involved in was rescuing a man who had fallen into a ravine in Saltburn.

The crew were forced to clambered down the ravine to get the injured man out of the stream and onto a stretcher before he was winched to safety.

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GO Outdoors Lottery Results

30 Nov 09


We have the results of our lottery sponsored by GO Outdoors. Thank you to everyone who bought a ticket and congratulations to the winners. The Lottery raised a total of £4,408 which will go towards our Base Appeal.

The winners are:

1st A Tizard £500
2nd C Dennis £250
3rd A Freeland £100
4th J Crathorne £50
5th J Bollands £50
6th D Buckle £50

Cleveland Search and Rescue Team Supported by GO Outdoors

27 Nov 09

This year has seen the staff and customers of Go Outdoors in Stockton work together to support their local Mountain Rescue Team.

Through sponsored walks, use of a mobile and an ‘in-store’ climbing wall, as well as collection jar donations Cleveland Search and Rescue Team (CSRT) have had a significant and much needed boost to their finances. Go Outdoors (GO) have even begun to sell CSRT merchandise and they have through their efforts raised in excess of £2700 towards the ‘CSRT Base Appeal’.

Team members and supporters were delighted when, as well as raising money for the base appeal, GO also decided to sponsor the two Land Rover 4x4 Rescue Vehicles and the Incident Control Vehicle owned by the team. By contributing a further £4000 to CSRT this will cover the annual running costs of the vehicles - the team’s largest expenditures.

On Monday 2 November 2009 Liz MacDougall, manager of GO presented a cheque to team members, pictured below Allan Mann (Team Treasurer) is seen receiving the cheque on behalf of CSRT from Liz.



More recently GO have provided £1000 in raffle prizes in aid of CSRT. The event was held in GO (Stockton) on Saturday 21 November 2009 and is expected to have raised more than £3500 for the base appeal.

For older news, please see the news archive