WITH a total of 41 call-outs 1995 proved to be a record year for Rossendale Search and Rescue Team. And it ended as it started, with the team on stand-by duty for Lancashire's ambulance service in the face of some fairly serious snow conditions.

Other call-outs over the year ranged from spot pick-ups - known casualties in known locations - to moorland and urban searches for missing people.

There was even a hoax on Pendle Hill where the team searched five hours during the night for a phantom casualty with a broken leg.

In addition a number of calls came from other search and rescue teams needing either manpower or Rossendale's four specialist search dogs with their handlers.

Working closely with police, county ambulance services, countryside rangers and the RAF the volunteer team provides search and rescue cover for an area stretching from Clitheroe to Bolton on one side and West Yorkshire on the other.

Copies of the its annual report for 1995 are available from the end of this month.

Send a large, stamped, addressed envelope plus a £1 postal order to: The Secretary, Rossendale Search and Rescue Team, 46 Clegg Street, Haslingden, Rossendale BB4 5LW.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.