Answers to questions about the team in general.
The average annual running expenditure for the team is over £20,000. This pays for things like diesel in the tanks of the team vehicles, running costs for our base, insurance and many other things. This doesn't include capital projects where we replace something like a vehicle. Those projects are run seperately and we typically try to get grants to help cover those costs.
This is in addition to the amount team members’ have to spend for their personal equipment.
We mainly cover the Central Brecon Beacons area and South to the coast of South Wales. The total area that we cover is 1437 square km and stretches roughly from Pen Y Fan down to the coast and from the Neath valley in the West across past Newport in the east.
We also work together with the other three mountain rescue teams in South Wales to cover the entire of the South Wales area from Aberystwyth down and from St. David's in the West across to the English border and, in some cases, beyond.
However, the team can be called to help anywhere in the country or even abroad for major incidents. Mountain Rescuers from South Wales helped in the Lockerbie aircraft crash in 1988.
The number of callouts we attend each year is increasing. In the past five years it has more than doubled, and we are now attending some 80 or 90 callouts a year - that's almost two a week!
The team receives only a small equipment grant from the Welsh Office and the Sports Council. The Police also support the Team with some radio equipment. This does not come close to meeting the required funding.
Team members don't receive any payment for their services at all. Occasionally the team raises enough funds to purchase equipment like waterproofs or helmets, but other than that each members' equipment is their own.
Sgt. Jack Powell MBE, brought Police and a few volunteers together in 1959. The team was expanded and formally established in 1963.
