Calder Valley Search and Rescue Team members get the anniversary celebrations underway. Photo: Tony Hanners

More than 40 rescue team members gathered to kick off the organisation’s golden jubilee celebrations.

Calder Valley Search and Rescue Team volunteers got together to raise a glass at the Mytholmroyd headquarters of the group.

During the evening, the team’s president Bob Uttley read the original minutes from the very first meeting held on 15 February 1966, before cutting the 50th anniversary cake.

The team, originally called the Calder Valley Moorland Rescue Team, was inaugurated at a meeting in Hebden Bridge at which it was decided map reading and first-aid training would be necessary for its members.

Two members of the Haslingden and Rossendale Fell Search Unit attended to advise the new team.

The minutes from the inaugural meeting in 1966

A Calder Valley Search and Rescue Team spokesperson said: “To help celebrate this monumental milestone, a series of special events have been planned.

“There will be something for everyone, so we hope you will join us at one or all of the events to help make our 50th anniversary year a truly memorable one.”

The team covers the moors and uplands of the West Yorkshire South Pennines and surrounding areas.