Dave Freeborn, right, receives his award from Guy Pocock of event sponsors Lakes Training Solutions. Photo: Florence Acland Photography

A mountain rescuer who jointly directed a short film about the movement has received an award.

Dave Freeborn produced and co-directed the promotional movie which was released earlier this year.

Mr Freeborn, a member of Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team and owner of Viscom Studios, picked up the prize for best documentary work in the Cumbria Short Film Competition.

He has also worked on producing an edited-down version of the 24 Hours a Day, 365 Days a Year movie which was released today to help fundraising for Mountain Rescue England and Wales.

He received his award at an event at The Old Laundry Theatre in Bowness-on-Windermere.

The winner attracted a £100 prize as well as a broader showing to a film-loving audience.

Mr Freeborn, a long-standing member and former leader of the Patterdale team, said: “We’ll be donating the cash to MREW, as you’d expect.

“It was great to have this piece of work, which was partly paid commission and partly a labour of love, recognised for its documentary and production values. The film has been a really useful tool for mountain rescue teams across the country to explain what they do and how they do it.

“I’ve been involved over the summer in editing it down to create an online fundraising version too.”

The film was captured at more than 12 different locations with 10 different mountain rescue teams from across the regions. There was also filming from a drone in Borrowdale in the Lake District, snow and ice conditions in the winter filming and even underground rescue footage from cave rescuers too.

John Hamlett, co-director of the film, said: “Dave and I are both commercial film-makers from Cumbria and work on a variety of local and national projects, but we also love the fells and mountain rescue.

“We carted our gear up mountains, filmed in driving rain and baking summer sun and had plenty of early mornings and late nights over four seasons in the making of just a six-minute short film. All the people appearing in the video are mountain rescue volunteers, their friends and families and it communicates a strong message about their availability and their commitment to this voluntary service.”

Mr Freeborn said: “Welsh actor Mathew Gravelle helped us to create the voice-over in both English and Welsh so that all the teams in MREW could use it locally and Miles Hancock created a dramatic music score that really added to the impact of the film.”

“The film is currently being shown on the huge Imax screen at Rheged Centre near Penrith as well as on the Clipper boats on the Thames in London and I know it is featuring in the presentations and education activities of many of the 50 or more mountain rescue teams in England and Wales.”

The edited version went live today, with a view to maximising donations to mountain rescue in England and Wales. It includes ways to donate to the organisation.

The edited version was released today.

Judy Whiteside, who has been leading the project for MREW over the past two years, said: “We launched the six-minute version online on the Thursday before Easter.

“Within hours it was going viral online and it has now been shared on Facebook nearly 5,000 times as well as being viewed almost a quarter of a million times.”

But feedback was for a shorter version with a stronger fundraising message that will generate donations for MREW and funds to support work of the mountain rescue teams working across England and Wales.

“Our supporters wanted a shorter film with a clear fundraising aim that they could share, retweet and generally pass on to friends and family,” said Andy Simpson, national press officer for MREW and a member of Rossendale and Pendle MRT.”

Today’s launch of the edited film ties in with the darker evenings and shorter days of the winter months that tend to lead to additional search and rescue call-outs for the 50-plus teams across the country.