Patterdale Mountain Rescue New Defender

Rescue Vehicle Appeal

Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team supports the emergency services by providing a rescue service for those in difficulties in the mountains and valleys around Patterdale.  We are one of the busiest Mountain Rescue Teams in the UK, and this year we must replace our oldest rescue vehicle, a Land Rover Defender, which has now completed 16 years’ service, four more than its expected life with the Team.  We have therefore recently launched an appeal to raise £85k to buy and convert a New Defender 110 Land Rover to serve in our fleet of four specialist mountain rescue vehicles.

We principally rely on charitable donations to continue our work and hope you will feel able to support us to meet this core requirement.   In anticipation of your generosity, please accept a huge ‘Thank you‘ from all at Patterdale Mountain Rescue!

The vast majority of our call-outs are for people lost or injured in the mountains.  We are fortunate that we are able to access much of our area of responsibility by track, so avoiding a lengthy walk-in.   This saves time, critically on occasions, and where necessary enables swift casualty evacuation.  Access to these tracks requires a reliable off-road vehicle, capable of addressing challenging terrain and year-round mountain weather.  Our vehicles must also have the capacity to carry Team members, all our rescue and medical equipment, and quite possibly a casualty on a stretcher.  Land Rover’s New Defender will do that job admirably and will be a worthy successor to its iconic predecessor which has delivered stalwart service.

We need to raise £55k to purchase the basic vehicle and have allowed a further £30k to effect the extensive specialist modifications required for use in mountain rescue.  These include: a roll-cage, roof-rack and ladder, emergency services warning lights and siren, all-terrain tyres, electronics and communications equipment, facility for carrying a loaded stretcher, storage facilities and other essential safety and performance features.