Major Mike Devereux
A volunteer mountain rescuer turned helicopter pilot will revisit his old stomping ground this weekend for an exercise with the team he used to help.
Major Mike Devereux of the Royal Marines will fly a Sea King helicopter in a training session with his old comrades from the Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team on Saturday.
He was formerly a member of the team while taking a teacher-training course at Charlotte Mason College in Ambleside. He volunteered with the mountain rescue team from 1992 until 1995.
Major Devereux is now second in command of the Royal Navy’s search and rescue unit at HMS Gannet, based at Prestwick, Ayrshire. He is hoping to meet many of the men and women who were with him in the Langdale team and is looking forward to introducing them to the rest of the aircraft’s crew.
“I have great memories of my time in the mountain rescue team and am really looking forward to catching up with some of my old colleagues there,” said the 38-year-old major, originally from the Wirral. “Even though it’s 19 years since I first started with LAMRT, I know that there are still quite a number of people on the team who were there at the time.
“It all came about as I had a passion for mountain climbing and by being part of the mountain rescue team I was also able to give something back.
“Even after finishing my course and joining the Royal Marines, I did still manage to carry on with some MRT work, though eventually I had to move away from the area with my new job.
“As a search and rescue pilot, I now frequently work and train with mountain rescue teams around Scotland and Northern England. The work which is done by these extremely professional volunteer groups is outstanding and I am proud to have been part of that.”
The mountain rescue team and the Royal Navy helicopter will operate around Ambleside and the Great Langdale valley practising winching drills, communications skills and on-site casualty handling on Saturday.
Team members plan to hand Major Devereux a copy of a book and a DVD marking the Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team’s 40th anniversary.
