One of Keswick Mountain Rescue Team’s longest-serving volunteers is calling it a day after more than 50 years on call.
But Malcolm Miller says he has no intention of swapping his hiking boots for comfortable slippers.
Indeed as an associate member he will continue to pound the streets of Keswick to ensure collection boxes for the vital service are regularly maintained and emptied – and he still intends to spend time walking in his beloved Lakeland fells.
“I’m still part of the team, but last year I was taken off the call-out roster due to Covid restrictions and that gave me time to think,” he said.
“Reluctantly, I reached the conclusion that, at the age of 70, my days of slogging up a mountain in all weathers, carrying a heavy rucksack are over. I think it’s time to make room for somebody who is younger and fitter.”
Malcolm was a spring-heeled young teacher at Lairthwaites School when he first joined Keswick Mountain Rescue in 1970, and recalls the emergency call-out system in those days was radically different to what it is now.
“George Fisher was the team leader, and the centre of communications and gathering was Keswick police station. Members would be alerted individually by phone, then make their way to the station where a Land Rover would be waiting.
“There were few radios and once out on the hill we relied mostly on verbal communication.”
Despite completing over 750 rescues during his long career, Malcolm says he can still remember his first as if it were yesterday.
“We were called out to attend a group on Carrock Fell, one of whom was suffering from exposure. As I recall it a pretty miserable day, typically wet and windy Lake District weather, and by the time we got there others in the group were also suffering.
“But they were able to descend by their own means while the initial casualty was stretchered off.”
On another memorable occasion, Malcolm used a bottle of Fairy Liquid to free a rock climber who had trapped her leg on Shepherd’s Crag.
Sometimes there is nothing even a seasoned rescuer can do, and Malcolm has also seen his fair share of fatalities on the fells. And he is in no doubt which he considers the Lake District’s most perilous ascent.
“Sharp Edge on Blencathra is only short, but it’s very narrow and exposed and in the wet it can be lethal,” he says. “I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been called out there.”
With two grown-up sons, Malcolm says he is reluctantly looking forward to retirement with wife Sarah.
“I’m going to miss it, there’s no doubt about that. But I’ll have plenty of time for birdwatching and fishing – and Sarah will be delighted that there’ll be no more call-outs on Christmas Day.”
