A Lake District mountain rescue team has been chosen as Workington Town’s charity of the year.
The rugby club has chosen to support Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team.
The club said: “Workington Town are delighted to support the charity that is close to the heart of our Workington Town Community Trust main sponsor – No Name Travel Ltd’s Vicky Brown.
“We felt it was a fitting opportunity to give back to Vicky after her incredible impact for our community work and support a huge personal passion for her and her family.
“We are proud and honoured to use the platform of Workington Town RLFC to generate substantial funds for the Wasdale Mountain Rescue organisation.
“With running costs around £70,000 a year we know we can make a significant donation to an organisation at the heart of keeping you safe whilst carrying out your outdoor leisure interests!”
Vicki said the mountain rescue team was close to her heart due to a life-changing moment for her and her family six years ago.
She said: “June 3 2019 was a normal sunny afternoon. My brother Chris had a very rare day off work (he had two jobs as a post man and a retained firefighter).
“He dropped his toddler off at nursery and for the first time ever he decided he would go for a walk up Scafell Pike.
“That afternoon changed our family’s lives forever, as he never came home, and it devastated us.
“During the walk Chris kept in contact with his wife, our mam, and he made some social media posts along his way and not long after he reached the summit of Scafell he posted a photo of himself with the words ‘For a brief moment in time I’m currently the highest person on land in the whole of England’.
“Which was Chris to the core, he was an amazing person and always saw the best in everything.
“Not long after this it was starting to get dark; we hadn’t heard from him for a while, and we all started to worry.
“After the police were called, Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team were drafted in. They searched tirelessly for him all night and whilst the news early the next morning was heart-breaking – that our precious Chris had been taken far too soon.
“The Wasdale team were amazing. They treated Chris with such care and dignity, they spent hours offering our family support, we were invited to their base as a family for a debrief so we could fully understand what happened on that awful day and to this day we still have a wonderful relationship with them.”
Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team has helped people in the western fells of the Lake District for over 50 years.
They cover England’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike, and respond to well over 100 calls for help each year.
The team consists of around 40 volunteers who respond to help those in need, whatever the weather, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Vicky added: “As they don’t receive any government funding and rely on generous donations from the public to fund the team, all help to boost their fundraising efforts is critical in keeping our community safe on the fells.”
Once a year, they recruit a new intake of around 10 probationary members who each cost around £2,000 to supply with the kit they need, and on an annual basis the team costs about £70,000 to run and maintain their service, so all donations are gratefully received.
Vicky added: “When Chris was alive, he always wanted to make a positive impact on the community around him and more than once he said that he wanted to help people and do good things so that when he was old and passed away that he would be remembered as someone who made a difference.
“The friends and family of Chris have held many different fundraising events over the last few years, and we have raised tens of thousands of pounds.
“We feel that helping Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team to fundraise in his honour has been a way for us to help keep Chris’s memory alive and hopefully help Wasdale in our own way to carry on saving people in trouble and stop other families going through the devastating time that we have all been through.
“We are so excited and grateful that Workington Town RLFC has chosen Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team for their charity match this year in memory of my brother and I just want to personally thank them as every single penny is so gratefully received.”
