• Contact us
  • About us
  • Digital edition
  • Online archive
Monday, June 16, 2025
Cumberland and Westmorland Herald
  • News
    Risks and strategies for flexible pension drawdown

    Risks and strategies for flexible pension drawdown

    Man arrested after fleeing from police in Penrith

    Man arrested after fleeing from police in Penrith

    £37.7 million to tackle potholes and upgrade roads

    £37.7 million to tackle potholes and upgrade roads

    Over £38,000-worth of fake goods seized at Appleby Horse Fair

    Over £38,000-worth of fake goods seized at Appleby Horse Fair

    New bid for Appleby stallion sculpture revealed

    New bid for Appleby stallion sculpture revealed

    18th century Eden pub sold as owners retire

    18th century Eden pub sold as owners retire

    Tebay’s plans for battery storage unit

    Tebay’s plans for battery storage unit

    Pub landlord must remove Covid canopy

    Pub landlord must remove Covid canopy

    Flower fairies of Kirkby Stephen brighten people’s day

    Flower fairies of Kirkby Stephen brighten people’s day

  • Sport
    Double national triumph for Stuart Robinson

    Double national triumph for Stuart Robinson

    Patterdale’s Eden Eagles make history

    Patterdale’s Eden Eagles make history

    Penrith teen crowned British vault champion

    Penrith teen crowned British vault champion

    Penrith gymnasts represent North of England in finals

    Penrith gymnasts represent North of England in finals

    New boss revealed for Penrith AFC

    New boss revealed for Penrith AFC

    Penrith Panthers celebrate winning season

    Penrith Panthers celebrate winning season

    Darren Edmondson leaves Penrith AFC

    Darren Edmondson leaves Penrith AFC

    Lucy plays key role in county T20 triumph

    Lucy plays key role in county T20 triumph

    Gold for Keith in annual festival of orienteering

    Gold for Keith in annual festival of orienteering

  • Obituaries
  • Nostalgia
  • Online archive
  • Buy Photos
  • Buy your paper
  • North Lakes Living
No Result
View All Result
Cumberland and Westmorland Herald
  • News
    Risks and strategies for flexible pension drawdown

    Risks and strategies for flexible pension drawdown

    Man arrested after fleeing from police in Penrith

    Man arrested after fleeing from police in Penrith

    £37.7 million to tackle potholes and upgrade roads

    £37.7 million to tackle potholes and upgrade roads

    Over £38,000-worth of fake goods seized at Appleby Horse Fair

    Over £38,000-worth of fake goods seized at Appleby Horse Fair

    New bid for Appleby stallion sculpture revealed

    New bid for Appleby stallion sculpture revealed

    18th century Eden pub sold as owners retire

    18th century Eden pub sold as owners retire

    Tebay’s plans for battery storage unit

    Tebay’s plans for battery storage unit

    Pub landlord must remove Covid canopy

    Pub landlord must remove Covid canopy

    Flower fairies of Kirkby Stephen brighten people’s day

    Flower fairies of Kirkby Stephen brighten people’s day

  • Sport
    Double national triumph for Stuart Robinson

    Double national triumph for Stuart Robinson

    Patterdale’s Eden Eagles make history

    Patterdale’s Eden Eagles make history

    Penrith teen crowned British vault champion

    Penrith teen crowned British vault champion

    Penrith gymnasts represent North of England in finals

    Penrith gymnasts represent North of England in finals

    New boss revealed for Penrith AFC

    New boss revealed for Penrith AFC

    Penrith Panthers celebrate winning season

    Penrith Panthers celebrate winning season

    Darren Edmondson leaves Penrith AFC

    Darren Edmondson leaves Penrith AFC

    Lucy plays key role in county T20 triumph

    Lucy plays key role in county T20 triumph

    Gold for Keith in annual festival of orienteering

    Gold for Keith in annual festival of orienteering

  • Obituaries
  • Nostalgia
  • Online archive
  • Buy Photos
  • Buy your paper
  • North Lakes Living
No Result
View All Result
Cumberland and Westmorland Herald
No Result
View All Result
Home Ross Brewster

How long before mountain rescuers have to charge for callouts?

by CWH
15 March 2024
in News, Ross Brewster
A A
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Penrith Mountain Rescue Team carry the woman on a stretcher. The sky is grey and the rescuers are wearing the red and black mountain rescue jackets
Picture: Penrith Mountain Rescue Team

Nobbut Laiking, by Ross Brewster

Mountain rescue call-outs involving the dozen teams in the Lake District have been averaging one every other day since the new year.

No wonder world famous climber Alan Hinkes has warned that the volunteers who turn out in all weathers to save lives on the fells are risking burn-out.

The rescue teams fiercely guard their independence. The last thing they want is to become an extension of some government body. Hinkes himself feels calls for punitive fines or charging people to be rescued would be counter-productive to the ethos of the service.

But the whole essence of mountain rescue has changed dramatically over the years. Whereas a team might get 40 calls in a year, now most of them have more than 100.

Is this fair on the volunteer members? And is it really fair on local employers who willingly give them time to take part in rescues, but obviously have to make allowances for absence?

Rescue is a thoroughly professional role in 2024. Is it any longer sustainable for those team members with jobs and families without some recompense?

The fells are a walker’s paradise. But there is a common thread running through many recent incidents which could have been avoided by better judgment of conditions, suitable gear and more judicious use of technology.

If there was a bill at the end of the day perhaps some accident victims might think more carefully before they venture out.

Rescuers don’t judge and even the most experienced can have an accident. But the fells are getting ever busier. How much more can we expect the essential work of rescue teams to grow before the question of charging becomes too insistent to ignore?

As one poster on a Lakeland team’s Facebook site said: “The Lakes are not a school playground, it’s a place that can seriously risk your lives.”

Time to think of prison officers

I’m not sure there is a tougher job than being a prison officer. I used to know a chap who was based at Haverigg on the west Cumbrian coast, supposedly the model for Ronnie Barker’s TV comedy Porridge.

It was soul destroying and yet he never approached the job with the cynicism most of us would have felt.

I thought about him when I heard the story last week about the girl at Wakefield detention centre who was restrained and stripped by male officers.

The two female officers who would have been on duty had both been sent home earlier after being attacked. No doubt the facility where the girl was being held was short-staffed and hers wasn’t the only crisis that day.

They took the girl’s clothing because she was attempting to use them to hang herself. It just seems an awful mess, the sort we the general public prefer to have hidden away.

Out of sight, out of mind. Yet someone has to do it, and it’s the officers who risk their lives dealing with some appalling situations who we rarely hear about in a positive sense.

Have you got your funeral planned?

If you want to get ahead, get involved in the direct funerals business. Judging by all the adverts on TV, trade must be booming.

Having considered the options, many of us are quite willing to make our exit without fuss and that’s where these direct funerals come in.

The undertakers will take the body away, return the ashes and it’s up to the deceased’s nearest and dearest to decide if they want to organise some sort of wake.

I’m a man with a plan. Several years I was persuaded to take out a funeral scheme. A bargain they said making it sound like foraging round the supermarket for the yellow sticker items at the end of the trading day.

From what I can tell, most people’s pets will get a more abundant send-off when it’s their time to go.

My plan offers an economy coffin, a hearse, a ride to the crem and, if I so wish, someone to say a few words before I finally slide away through those curtains. Oh, and they return my ashes to nearest and dearest.

I don’t fancy a wake. A dozen curled up cucumber sandwiches should suffice. More likely they’ll take me up one of the fells and try not to pick a windy day to distribute my remains.

I wonder how much of a bargain I got for my two grand. For me no bargain at all as I won’t be around to do the maths and judge if the undertakers did a good job. The bargain is for my family who won’t be saddled with the cost and boy do funerals cost a pretty packet nowadays if you want the works

We hear plenty about the cost of living. It’s the cost of dying that isn’t always factored into the financial picture. 

Life goes on amid sadness

How many commemorative services promised during the Covid lockdown ever took place?

This was a particularly distressing time when friends and relatives were unable to say a proper funeral farewell.

Life goes on amid sadness. It doesn’t mean people think any less of lost loved ones because those memorial services never quite got done.

Tags: premium

Related Posts

Risks and strategies for flexible pension drawdown
Expert advice

Risks and strategies for flexible pension drawdown

15 June 2025
Man arrested after fleeing from police in Penrith
News

Man arrested after fleeing from police in Penrith

13 June 2025
£37.7 million to tackle potholes and upgrade roads
Latest

£37.7 million to tackle potholes and upgrade roads

13 June 2025
Over £38,000-worth of fake goods seized at Appleby Horse Fair
News

Over £38,000-worth of fake goods seized at Appleby Horse Fair

13 June 2025
New bid for Appleby stallion sculpture revealed
News

New bid for Appleby stallion sculpture revealed

13 June 2025
18th century Eden pub sold as owners retire
Food and Drink

18th century Eden pub sold as owners retire

13 June 2025
No Result
View All Result

Stay connected

Facebook Twitter Instagram

Most popular

New bid for Appleby stallion sculpture revealed

New bid for Appleby stallion sculpture revealed

13 June 2025
Man arrested after fleeing from police in Penrith

Man arrested after fleeing from police in Penrith

13 June 2025
Risks and strategies for flexible pension drawdown

Risks and strategies for flexible pension drawdown

15 June 2025
Over £38,000-worth of fake goods seized at Appleby Horse Fair

Over £38,000-worth of fake goods seized at Appleby Horse Fair

13 June 2025
18th century Eden pub sold as owners retire

18th century Eden pub sold as owners retire

13 June 2025
Flower fairies of Kirkby Stephen brighten people’s day

Flower fairies of Kirkby Stephen brighten people’s day

13 June 2025
Cumberland and Westmorland Herald Logo

33 Middlegate
Penrith
Cumbria
CA11 7SY

Phone: 01768 862313
Email: news@cwherald.com

Registered in England as Barrnon Media Limited. No: 12475190
VAT registration number: 343486488

Explore

  • News
  • Sport
  • Farming
  • Property
  • Obituaries
  • Nostalgia
  • Your view

Useful links

  • Contact us
  • Photosales
  • Online archive
  • Buy your paper
  • Digital edition
  • North Lakes Living
  • Advertise
  • About us

Follow us on

© Barrnon Media Limited 2025

Terms & Conditions / Privacy Policy / Cookie Policy

This website and its associated newspaper are members of the Independent Press Standards Organisation
Review Your Cart
0
Discount
Add Coupon Code
Subtotal
Total Installment Payments
Bundle Discount
Checkout

 
0
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Obituaries
  • Nostalgia
  • Online archive
  • more
    • North Lakes Living
    • Buy Photos
    • Buy your paper
    • About us
    • Contact us

© 2020 Cumberland & Westmorland Herald