Northern Mountain Rescue Team (formerly North West Mountain Rescue Team) ANNUAL REPORT 2022-23 (period covering 1 Apr 2022 - 31 March 2023) International Multi-Agency Training Cuilcagh Mountain Co Fermanagh January 2023 Northern Ireland Charity No 100059
Name of Charity: Northern Ireland Mountain Rescue Team (Formerly North West Mountain Rescue Team) Registered Charity Number.. NIC 100059 Contact Details: Public address.. 62 Killee Road, Coa, Ballinamallard, Co. Fermanagh BT94 2FS Telephone number.. 079 1959 6487 Email: secretary@nwmrt.org Website.. www.nwmrt.or Trustees 2022 -23: Mr G. Stanbridge, Ms P. Ellis, Mr A. Kelly, Mr D. Cullinan, Mr R. Alexander, Mr G. McKelvey, Mr N. Mc Gillian, Mr S. Forrest, Mr K. Thompson. Appointment of Trustees: A trustee cannot be appointed by any person or body of persons within the charity but can only be appointed at any general meeting of the charity by majority vote and when a quorum is present Governance: The organisation is a charity unincorporated association governed by a constitution that was formally adopted at the most recent annual general meeting on 2 May 2018, and as amended on 11 August 2018 and 20 February 2022 Purposes: 1. To save life and prevent injury in remote, hostile, and mountainous environments. 2. To educate the public on hazards in mountains and offer practical advice to reduce risks. 3. To promote physical and mental health, fitness, and wellbeing of communities through outdoor activities, particularly in upland and mountainous areas. 4. To promote environmental protection, particularly in upland and mountainous areas. 5. To relieve the suffering of animals in remote, hostile, and mountainous environments.
Public Benefit Requirements: The trustees have had regard to the public benefit requirement as defined in the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 (as amended). SUMMARY OF EVENTS, ACTIVITIES AND MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS The team name issue unfortunately dominated the 2022-23 year following the decision by the team to change its name from North West Mountain Rescue Team to Northern Ireland Mountain Rescue Team at a Special General Meeting on 10 October 2021. The impact of this change was significant and detrimental both internally and externally to the team. This took up considerable officers, time in dealing with directly related issues, the most significant being the internal impact of continued divided member opinions which affected morale and created disruption to the running of the team. The team name issue also resulted in two Serious Incident reports (5 August 2022 and 11 October 2022) lodged by the team to the Charity Commission. The matter remained unresolved by 31 March 2023. Despite this challenge the team operations and training continued with the following main events: Joint Team Training Scotland 22123 October 2022 Following an invite from Moffat MRT, 10 team members travelled to Scotland to participate in a joint training exercise with Moffatt MRT, Galloway MRT, Tweed Valley MRT, Tweed Valley MRT, Borders SARU, Police Scotland MRT (Strathclyde) and Scottish Ambulance Service. The training theme was based around winter rescue up to and including avalanche events. This event as well as providing excellent winter training was also a great opportunity to develop and build on new and existing partnerships. Swift Water Training 29130 October 2022, 19 February 2023 Following a successful grant application and team contribution £13,510 was invested in equipment and training, where 10 members were swift water trained to DEFRA Mod 2 (Responder - 6 members) and Mod 3 (Technician - 4 members). This training represented a significant development to the teams, capability to both assist and respond to water-based SAR activities. It has also extended the teams, capability to work in partnership with other water based SAR teams such as the RNLI and Coastguard particularly in and around the extensive Lough Erne catchment. Inter Team Training 22 January 2023 This was the most ambitious team training event organised by the team in recent years. The exercise on Cuilcagh Mountain, Co Fermanagh, was based on a multi-agency effort in dealing with casualty care and extraction from the summit via the timber boardwalk. Over 40 team members were in attendance including representatives from Sligo Leitrim MRT, Nl Ambulance Service (HART team), PSNI, Fermanagh and Omagh District Council. The training exercise was undertaken in difficult conditions and was a significant success in establishing and confirming methods of working should a real life event occur.
The exercise was also notable as it was apparently the first inter agency and cross border team working event in Northern Ireland. The event was attended by the press and media and subsequently reported on in the local papers and on national TV. Equipment and Vehicles Following a successful grant application to DEARA, funding was secured for the purchase of two new vehicles namely a command vehicle and a two-seater jeep at a cost of £150,600. This grant also assisted the team in procuring new team PPE O'ackets and leggings). Fundraising and Recruitment Fundraising for the year was down on the previous year, however 8 fundraising events including street collections and 5km runs were undertaken. We continued to apply for training and equipment grants with significant success from DEARA funding. The Department of Justice annual grant again proved vital in sustaining the essential finance to run the team. 7 new applicants completed the induction training to join the team in 2022123. The team membership varied across the 2022-23 year however averaged in excess of 50 members at any one time. Financial Position A review of the charity's financial position at the end of the year is attached and was conducted by the independent examiner Martin Mc Guigan, 4 Drumlin Heights, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, BT74 7NR. A copy of the Independent Examiners Report is at Annex A. Fixed Asset Register All equipment is allocated a life of three, six or nine years and straight-line depreciation applied using a monthly calculation to give an accurate value for all equipment held. Work continues in marking and registering all equipment electronically to improve accountability and replacement programmes. A copy of the Statement of Assets and Liabilities is at AnnexA. Incidents The team was involved in 16 incidents in 2022-23. The number of incidents decreased 44 % from 29 to 16 from the previous reporting period and the total number of hours reduced by 69 % from 1,345 to 414 A significant incident of note was a request to assist Sligo Leitrim MRT on 21 January 2022. This call -out was to assist with the technically difficult extraction of 3 casualties from the Benbulbin Mountain area (Dermott and Grainne's Cave). Four team members travelled to the scene to link up with Sligo Leitrim MRT to assist with the safe transfer of the casualties from very steep ground to awaiting ambulances. This was an example of
good inter-team working and the importance of being part of a larger body namely Mountain Rescue Ireland (MRI). It also fulfils a team objective to forge greater working partnerships with our sister SAR and MRTS when the need arises. Training & Exercises Total Training Hours (2017 -2023) Trg& Exs 108 108 52 105 102 115 Year 2022-23 2021-22 2020-21 2019-20 2018-19 2017-18 Hours 5,392 7,414 1,688 5,652 4,542 6,633 Members 26 10 17 17 There were 108 Training Events in 22123 with 5,392 total hours spend training. Other Events There were 160 events completed in year totalling 2,378 hours. Of these, 24 were public relations events where the team gave demonstrations to a range of groups including scouts and young farmers groups. This was a great opportunity to integrate with the local community, inform them of our role in the community and to educate them on safety in the outdoors. other events included meetings of working groups and committees, administration, equipment inspections, and grant applications. Team Name Change This report references the charity team name for the accounting period 2022-23 as Northern Ireland Mountain Rescue Team. It is important to note that the team name has subsequently been amended post this accounting period with reversion to the former name North West Mountain Rescue Team. This change was formally confirmed by the Charity Commission on 3rd November 2023. Approved by trustees on 30 January 2024 and signed on their behalf by Stephen Forrest Chair and Trustee J•LZ stephen Forrest
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