A Coleg Gwent Lecturer is appealing for support towards a 2,000 mile expedition visiting the UK’s 15 national parks in a bid to raise funds for a mountain search and rescue team.
Tim Jarvis, a Public Services Lecturer at Coleg Gwent’s Ebbw Vale Campus, is planning the 12-day expedition in a restored 1974 Series 3 Land Rover to raise funds and awareness for search and rescue work, in his other role as Water Safety Officer for the Longtown Mountain Rescue Team, based in Abergavenny.
Longtown Mountain Rescue Team is a voluntary, specialist search and rescue service consisting of around 35 unpaid voluntary members who are on call 24 hours a day all year round, and cover the eastern part of the Brecon Beacons National Park, an overall operational area of 5,000 square miles.
It costs around £30,000 each year to keep the team operational of which over 80% is reliant on fundraising and donations. Tim is hoping to raise critical reserves for the newly established Mountain Rescue Benevolent Fund on the expedition, with the support of national park warden teams and 15 other UK search and rescue organisations.
The planned expedition was inspired by an intrepid team from Oxford and Cambridge Universities who completed the ‘First Overland’ expedition in 1955 driving two Series 1 Land Rovers from the UK to Singapore via a completely overland route.
Tim, who is getting married in February, has rebuilt a 1974 Land Rover previously sold for scrap and plans to navigate all 15 of the UK’s national parks with his new wife Hannah in July 2012.
“Working with the national park authorities and other UK search and rescue teams we hope to raise public awareness and support for the important work of our national search and rescue services,” he said.
“The team is increasingly utilised as a specialist search and rescue resource for incidents far-removed from the mountains, so raising the funds necessary for equipment and training is vital to ensure we can continue to help members of the public and assist Police authorities.”
To enable the expedition to go ahead in July 2012, Tim needs to raise £1000 for fuel and supplies.
Public services students at Coleg Gwent’s Ebbw Vale Campus have raised £600 for the mountain rescue team in the last year, taking part in sponsored leg waxing, head shaving, a cake sale, raffle and even a sponsored night in a cave.
“We’ve been lucky so far, people have generously donated items for auction and equipment to support the expedition – but we do need lots more support and fundraising, so please get in touch if you can help,” said Tim.
The Longtown Mountain Rescue Team is part of the South Wales Search and Rescue Association and operates on behalf of Gwent, Dyfed Powys, South Wales and West Mercia Police to assist people who are injured, lost or missing in mountainous, lowland, rural and urban areas.
