Haddon Hall, where the volunteers meet Prince Charles. Photo: Eirian Evans CC-BY-SA-2.0

National park volunteers met the Prince of Wales during his visit to the Peak District yesterday.

Prince Charles met 10 volunteer rangers when he called in at Haddon Hall near Bakewell.

Their combined 430 years’ service to the Peak District National Park Authority would stretch back to the reign of Elizabeth I.

The prince also met voluntary workers who run conservation projects, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, outdoor activities such as climbing, and who regularly record wildlife and archaeological sites, as well as those who run schemes for black and minority ethnic visitors to the park.

Among those meeting the Queen’s son was Ian Milne, who celebrates 50 years voluntary service with the Peak District National Park Authority this year.

He is one of the longest-serving volunteer rangers in the country. The 71-year-old retired engineer from Marple started ranger training in 1962 when he moved down from his native Dundee.

“I was already an experienced mountaineer, and I’d been involved in mountain rescues in Scotland,” he said.

“Although I loved being an engineer, rangering at weekends took me out of the grime and oil and smoke.”

One of his earliest memories is of the 1964 tragedy when three young Rover Scouts on the Four Inns Walk died in a blizzard on Bleaklow.

Mr Milne said: “I was on the team that found one of them in the snow, it was very sad.

“But good came out of it: it led to the formation of mountain rescue teams in the Peak District. I and other rangers became heavily involved in that and I became a team leader in Edale, though now they are run entirely separately from the rangers.”

His mountain rescue training included expeditions to the Arctic from 1975 to 1988.

Among Ian’s other outstanding memories are of moorland firefighting. “I remember one blaze in the 1970s when we lived up on Bleaklow for three days, trying to control the flames,” he said.

“Nowadays the fire services and rangers run the fire operations group with moorland owners to coordinate firefighting, but in those days we didn’t have the specialist equipment they have now.”

He also worked during foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks in 1967 and 2001 when movements were restricted across the countryside. Lately he has been involved in moorland conservation work with the Moors for the Future Partnership, guiding helicopters where to drop their bulk loads of heather cuttings, seeds and fertiliser.

“The comradeship is tremendous and I enjoy the work,” Mr Milne added.

He carries out his work while coping with diabetes and coeliac disease. “I do a lot of fitness training in order to do it and I’ll carry on as long as I’m physically able.”

Apart from rangering, Ian does voluntary work with the British Red Cross as a wheelchair mechanic, and for the Anson Engine Museum in Poynton.

His nine colleagues with more than 40 years’ service who also lined up to meet the prince were: Austin Plant from Stanton-in-the-Peak; Dave Tryner, from Matlock; Margaret Anderson, Peter Draycott, Jack Elmore and Derek Styring, all from Sheffield; Peter Jackson, from Glossop; Gavin Fay, from Haydock, Merseyside and Doug Kirwen, of Leeds.

Two more rangers who have completed 40 years’ service could not attend: John Peaker and Don Wilson.