The chairman of the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association has stepped down after 17 years.
Richard Warren – who has also been a mountain rescue team member for 38 years – is taking on a smaller role with the charity so he can spend more time with his family.
He said: “It was a difficult decision for me because I loved doing the role. But you’ve got to step down sometime to allow fresh blood into the position and see in someone with new drive and energy.
“When you step down from a role like this you wonder what your legacy will be, but I couldn’t work it out and thought I probably didn’t have one.
“But one of the team members when I was stepping down said he knew what my legacy was and that it was building relationships.
“I thought that was lovely because building and cherishing relationships within the teams and outside of the teams with corporate collaborations, police, ambulance, fire and rescue, coastguard, the helicopter teams, and others has been one of the most rewarding parts of my role.
“The public tend to talk about mountain rescue as heroes, but non of us think of ourselves like that. But to be part of an organisation that has the skills to rescue someone when they are in desperate need of help is special.
“When helicopters can’t fly and police and fire can’t go up because they’re not trained, it’s then you realise mountain rescue is a crucial service. It still amazes me that nobody gets paid and that we manage to raise millions of pounds a year to keep our 12 Lake District teams running.
“But it’s all done through donations and having relationships with people where funding can come in to keep the service going. It’s remarkable and I feel very privileged to be part of it.”
Richard has forged corporate collaborations with over 18 businesses in his time as chair, while also helping to save lives and be actively involved in countless challenging rescues.
He added: “There’s a few things I’ve done that I’m really proud of – a key one being keeping the teams content in the way they want to be supported while also representing them to national and external bodies.
“There have also been projects that I have picked up, with the most recent one being the Channel 4 documentary, Lake District Rescue.
“We’re also just about to start selling a book, which covers the whole history of rescues in the Lake District and I’ve been heavily involved with the implementation of #BeAdventureSmart for the past four or five years.
“But the other thing I’ve pioneered while being chair is the development of our corporate collaborations, which is about working with Cumbrian businesses and organisations.
“These are companies that I call family, they are part of Cumbria and our community and they have a similar ethos to mountain rescue.
“Companies we’ve worked with include Herdy, Lake District Hotels, Parkdean Resorts and smaller businesses such as Red Roast Coffee and the Lakes Distillery, who are working on a ‘mountain-strength’ gin to help us raise funds.
“It’s been a lot of hard work, but also fantastic fun developing these relationships.”
Richard is planning to continue his role as an operational team member for Wasdale mountain rescue and as a media officer for the wider Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association.
In his 38 years spent volunteering for mountain rescue he has also acted as a buildings officer, trustee and secretary and is a qualified helmsman and blue light driver as well as being the lead on drones in the region.
He said: “I started with mountain rescue in 1985 and it was a good match for me and a natural progression in my life. I have always loved climbing since being a child and my skills in my career at Sellafield were around resource coordination.
“I’m still fully operational now and people say oh you’re still going out Richard? But you’re 72? and I say so what! I was at training the other night with the team and I was flying the drone.
“Yes you’re not as fit as you were at 30, but you do have more time because you’re retired. Is it right to call them twilight years of mountain rescue?
“I do make my way up the mountains a bit slower, but once I get up there, there’s no stopping me. I can carry the stretcher as well as anyone else and I have a lot of rescue experience, so I’m very familiar with the areas we cover and I try and pass that on to new people.”
Richard was also presented with a chief constable certificate of appreciation for his dedicated service to the community.
Phil Gerrard, a Cockermouth mountain rescue team member and Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association secretary, has been chosen as the charity’s new chairman.
