South Eastern Mountain Rescue Association Blog

'Spellga Dam' in Mourne Mountains  and 'Dwyers Rock' in Wicklow Mountains

Download: Brochure (.pdf file)

Mountain Rescue Ireland (the organisation which oversees the twelve Mountain Rescue teams in Ireland) is holding two fundraising abseils on Saturday 28th July, 2012.

One is at Spelga Dam in the Mourne Mountains, County Down and the other is at Dwyer's Rock in County Wicklow. This is the first time that MRI has gone down the abseil route in fundraising terms, and we are very fortunate to have secured the first ever access for public abseil down the iconic Spelga Dam and the Wicklow abseil is from Dwyer's Rock, where the panoramic views are simply stunning!

If you're in tune with the great outdoors and enjoy your fresh air laced with good sized bursts of adrenalin, then look no further than the Mountain Rescue Ireland 2012 Abseil Events!

 Saturday 28th July is your chance to become an MRI 'Dambuster' or 'RockStar'...and raise money for an organisation that one day might save your life!


Get family and friends to sponsor you for an experience that will rock your world. Whether you already like to swing at the weekends, or are contemplating your first ever vicarious vault into the void, don't hang about - places are strictly limited!

It's great doing it in groups, and age is no barrier!

Registration
Registration is online at www.eventelephant.com/dambusters for the Mournes Abseil and www.eventelephant.com/rockstars personal fundraising pages can be set up at www.mycharity.ie/charity/mountain_rescue_ireland

Contact Details
Abseils will take place from 9am 'til 5pm on Saturday 28th July, and those taking part will be notified in advance of their time slot. For more information, contact Mountain Rescue Ireland Fundraising Officer Sharon Power - Tel (087) 2590290 or (085) 722 8164 or email fundraising@mountainrescue.ie

At approximately 8.30pm this evening South Eastern Mountain Rescue Association responded to a callout from HSE Ambulance Control regarding an injured walker in The Comeragh Mountains. The casualty was in the area of Kilcloony Woods which lies in the direction of the Lemybrien - Carrick on suir road. 20 Mountain Rescue members attended the callout, where the injured party was attended to and prepared for evacuation. 9 members of Tramore Cliff and Mountain Rescue were also on standby. Conditions were wet under foot  and the callout occurred in heavy drizzle and fading light.  The Coastguard helicopter Rescue 117 from Waterford  attended and transported the casualty to Waterford Regional Hospital for medical assistance.

South Eastern Mountain Rescue Association is an emergency  24/ 7/ 365 ,  voluntary Search and Rescue team covering all the Mountains of the South East of Ireland and is funded mainly by donation and public generosity.

At approx 4pm Saturday 5th May 2012 South Eastern Mountain Rescue Association (SEMRA) received a request from Gardai in Waterford to attend an incident in The Comeragh Mountains. A group of 15 were hillwalking in the area of Knockanaffrin Ridge in the Comeraghs, when a female member of the group fell and sustained a lower leg injury. The group dialled 999 and asked for Mountain Rescue.

A full team call out ensued and SEMRA members rapidly made their way to the casualty site. SEMRA requested the assistance of Rescue 117 search and rescue helicopter from Waterford. The weather was clear with significant wind speed - ideal conditions for the use of a helicopter. The winchman and team of Rescue 117 transported the casualty to Waterford Regional Hospital for further treatment.

According to Ray Bradfield Team Leader "We enjoy an excellent, long standing relationship with members of The Coastguard and only recently attended a heli-school day with the crew of Rescue 117 for our newer mountain rescue members. This included winching our members on and off the search and rescue helicopter and  preparation of a casualty, similar to the actual incident that occurred  in The Comeraghs last weekend. We keep our training as close to real life callouts  as possible so we can ensure the most efficient and professional treatment and delivery of an injured party."

A date for your diaries... Saturday 9th June... Kingsyard to Galtymore. Great walking, Great craic afterwards and half the proceeds raised go to SEMRA.

Celebrate 50th Anniversary of Patrician Year Cross on Galtymore.

Mark the 9th of June 2012 into your diary and come and join us in celebrating this event with a walk to Galtymore from Kingsyard and barbecue and music on your return to Kingsyard. A plaque to commemorate the 50th Anniversary will be unveiled at 1.30pm in Kingsyard with the walk starting at 2pm from Kingsyard to Galtymore. There will be a BBQ on return (catering by ECO Bus Café) and music provided by Ballyduff Comhaltas from 7.00pm.

We would be grateful if you would log your interest in attending the event so we arrange the appropriate catering. You can log your interest by calling one of the numbers below.

A GREAT DAY AND NIGHT ASSURED!!!!

All proceeds going to Charities SEMRA and Bru Columbanus Cork.

Enquiries to:
025 84903
087 6573276
086 1945585

A female walker who was out with a walking group in the Galtees today sustained a lower leg injury on the mountains. South Eastern Mountain Rescue Association were holding a training session in the Galtees today and were at the scene of the incident within five minutes. The injured party was stretchered off the mountain to the road at the Glen of Aherlow side. She was transported by HSE ambulance to South Tipperary General Hospital in Clonmel. Conditions on the day were good, with cloud only at high level and a clear day otherwise.

Name: Pat Holland

Lives: Cahir, Co.Tipperary.

Occupation: A lapsed archaeologist, ex-museum curator, now a development officer.

Interests: Still archaeology, history, but moving into psychology/personal development and life coaching over the last few years. Hillwalking, some diving/snorkeling, collecting too many books and leylandii hedge bashing.

In the team since: sometime in the late 1980’s. Things not so formal then.

Current position in the team: Elder lemon cluttering up the place.

Previous positions held: Deputy Team leader, Chairman, Trainee co-coordinator, pyrotechnic tester, IMRA Chairman.

Lowlights: driving home one night knowing we had not found the casualty on one of my early call outs was a sobering occasion.

Highlights: Finding the lost person! Being part of a great team that cares for each other and for the casualty. Witnessing the amazing achievements of skilled professional volunteers on major call outs. Knowing that the people coming after me know more than I did then.

I`ve just returned from a weird and wonderful adventure with South Eastern Mountain Rescue. The annual summer pilgrimage in Ireland when 30,000 people walk the stony worn routes to Croagh Patrick.

This year is my first visit, and we travelled 6 hours north to sleep on a gymnasium floor in Rice College in Westport -camping indoors was how they described it - to rise very early and report to Mayo Rescue base and be tasked with work on the mountain. Teams from all over Ireland were sent up in shifts to maintain a chain. Studying all the different teams was interesting in itself.

The cloud came down and we had fog, drizzle and rain continuously until the mountain path was churned like ready mixed concrete! The devoted pilgrims looked like a procession of characters from some strange carnival. Many walked the long route barefoot! One scrambled on all fours. There were little ones, old ones, yoga gurus, the disabled, young roughnecks, women in skimpy outfits, travellers, an American wearing a T shirt with the slogan "I make stuff up" who held an audience all the way and confronted people with silly "Hey, don`t I know you from Tinselstadt in Germany?" then flashed his T shirt.

There were whites and blacks, fat and skeletal, cameras and TV crews, sponsored walkers, ancient eccentrics....mindblowing to watch all of this. And every so often we were given applause as MR crews "doing the good work" (unquote), carrying such heavy loads etc. - mildly embarrassing as we plodded up and down.

We in our team did two stretcher carry-offs. There were 16 casualties taken off during our shift, which ended 6.30pm and the pilgrims were STILL coming up the mountain as the day was ending.

Amazing. Incredible. I slept hardly at all, and arrived home at 1am this morning, filthy, wet and worn out. I think I have my wife worn out replaying the tapes as I remember some of the sights we saw. There were three Germans, I`d guess, who, among the filthy laughing throng, came down from the summit with serious faces; Mum, Dad and daughter maybe 16 years old. They were in rain capes and were slow and immaculately clean while everyone else was muddy and dirty from falls and scrambles. We saw large grown women fall headlong among the rocks, caught off balance, and we had our hands full carrying a casualty already.

The team members were very supportive and we all enjoyed the spectacle and the work. Most amazing of all was to pause, stand and listen……to a sound like distant seagulls, the scrunching of rocks and stones, and the static effect it all created.

You can tell I`ve been impressed….

A huge thank you to all my friends and team mates!!!

Robin