Exmoor Search and Rescue celebrates 30 years of saving lives

Exmoor search and rescue are celebrating 30 years of service to their communities of Somerset and Devon this year. The team comprises 30 operational team members, as well as trainees and supporters who all take on this volunteering in addition to their wide range of day jobs.

ESRT started as a group of volunteers in 1992 with a caravan as a control vehicle kept on someone’s drive and very little else but a will to help the police in searching for missing and vulnerable people and returning them to a place of safety. This core aim still stands, but the equipment and technology have certainly moved on apace in 30 years.

The team now sports four bespoke vehicles all with different and vital capabilities, based at the rescue centre in South Molton and the fire station in Taunton. The team have a full water capability, a motorboat and four drones including one with thermal imagery.

The dedicated volunteers train regularly and hard to maintain the vast skill sets necessary to offer this comprehensive service to both Devon and Cornwall and Avon and Somerset police. Unusually for an MR Team, ESRT serve both police forces as their patch extends from Bridgwater to Yeovil, Tiverton to Bude.

The demands on the team’s time and expertise have likewise grown exponentially. Search Manager and longest serving team member of 25 years, Phil Sparks, said: “When I first joined the team, we would get around 10 callouts a year, largely for missing persons, while in the last year we had 54 callouts. We still deal with missing persons most of the time, but in addition have had ambulance assists to injured walkers and riders, evacuations for a gas leak, welfare checks across the moor during storm Eunice and unfortunately body recoveries.”.

Chair Caroline Young said: "The 30th year has been a really busy year for the team, on top of our day-to-day team operations, running the charity and fundraising, we have wanted to mark the team’s birthday in style. We have had a whole range of events throughout our 30th year, in addition to setting ourselves the challenging target to raise 30k for 30 years. It costs around £25000 a year to run the team so we wanted to push ourselves this year.

"People have been doing all sorts of challenges to mark the occasion, running the 30 miles of the Exmoor Perambulation in May, completing the 30 miles Ham and Lyme ultra-marathon in June, cycling 30k for 30 days before work etc. We’re still madly fundraising so if anyone would like to join in setting themselves a challenge and fun raise on our behalf, please go to our gofundme page at www.gofundme.com/f/30k-for-30-years-service?qid=30b5eb2843799064b7c5c5860806ecef. And then there will be the celebrations, a black-tie dinner with MR guest speaker Alan Hinkes OBE on Friday, October 21, and an open day at our rescue centre in South Molton on October 22, between 11am and 4pm to champion the work of the team.

"All this hard work should hopefully give the team a sustainable future to serve our communities for at least another 30 years."