The origins of Glossop Mountain Rescue Team
On Monday 20th April 1957 the Glossop Rover Scouts decided to investigate the possibility of forming a mountain rescue team,
to assist the police as and when required. In July 1959, whilst on an exercise weekend at Edale, the crew assisted
the evacuation of a girl with an ankle injury from Kinder Scout.
The first rescue recorded in the team logbook was 10th January 1960, of a female who had fallen in a gully on Lawrence Edge above
Woodhead, she had a broken leg and was carried by stretcher to Crowden Station.
In the spring of 1964 during the "Four Inns Challenge" the weather deteriorated and heavy snowfall led to the deaths of three
scouts, despite the evacuation of a number of scouts by Glossop team, and a search by other teams in the Peak District. As
a direct result, a number of new teams sprang up of willing volunteers, and this led to the formation of the Peak District
Mountain Rescue Organisation, (PDMRO), and the amalgamation of the Glossop Rover Scout crew with the recently formed Glossop Moorland Rescue Team. The
combined team was named 'Glossop Mountain Rescue Team' (GMRT). Since that date our team has been continuously on call.
The present team is still run with the same enthusiasm for saving life that followed the Four Inns tragedy. There are presently
about 40 active members of the team, available 24 hours a day 365 days a year. There have been many changes over the years including ever more sophisticated medical and rescue equipment, pagers, radios, GPS and satellite phones. Helicopters also play an increasingly important role in search and evacuation with GMRT working closely with the RAF, Air Ambulance and Police helicopters. However, sometimes the weather defeats even the latest technology and GMRT falls back on the manpower and stretcher carrying techniques that existed back on that first rescue in the Fifties. In fact one member on that first call is still active in the team today!
