On Saturday 13 February 2021, with temperatures below zero, KMRT’s Water Rescue team members, in a moment of madness, decided that throwing themselves into the River Goyt would be a good idea. Of course, this wasn’t simply sheer folly but was, in fact, a much needed training refresher and a chance for them to catch up with necessary CPD (Continuing Professional Development) to enable them to safely and legally operate in the event of a water rescue; recent events, with the team deploying to Bakewell 2 weeks ago in support of the Fire & Rescue Service, have highlighted the need for the team to maintain their skills and certain elements of the team’s water rescue capabilities cannot be practiced without stepping into the water.

Despite the freezing conditions, with ice forming on exposed surfaces on leaving the water, a very useful Covid-compliant training session was completed in the morning before the training was tragically cut short at midday by a call-out (see callout No 4 for details), leading to a scramble to get changed and travel to Lyme Park.

NB: the team have agreed with the relevant Authorities that team members can undertake a limited number of necessary face-to-face training sessions; these are conducted using the bare-minimum number of team members and with suitable Covid-compliant safety measures in place.

Kinder MRT is a self-funded Registered Charity, providing help to those in need, on and off the hill, 24/7/365. The team members are all unpaid volunteers who give up their time to attend call-outs, train and carry out the essential administration of the team. The team relies on the public’s generosity to cover its annual running costs of over £30K per year which includes the cost of purchasing specialist equipment such as for water rescue.

If you would like to help us to continue doing what we do, please consider making a donation at JustGiving.com/KMRT. Thank you.