The team was officially formed in November 2018 to serve the City of Carlisle and the communities of North Cumbria following the aftermath of Storm Desmond, and became a registered charity in March 2019.
The team was originally formed to provide flood rescue capability for the city, to provide an additional resource to the county over the existing limited pool of resources. As time moved on however, we found that the need for a search and rescue capability in region became ever more apparent with the impacts of the Pandemic and the Cost-of-Living crisis on peoples wellbeing and mental health.
The trustees of the charity were keen from the organisations inception to also work on a preventative basis rather than purely reactively. To this end the charity provides training to community groups upon request in subjects such as Water Awareness, First Aid and Mental Health First Aid on a free of charge or at cost basis wherever possible. Our aim is to enhance the resilience of local communities during any unforeseen flooding events, help reduce the potential loss of life and property and to reduce the impacts of mental health problems or be able to signpost people to professional help.
The charity seeks to continue its work over the upcoming years, expanding its support to the community by providing bank patrols on the Eden during hot weather weekends and further honing our ability to provide specialist support to our Blue Light colleagues in the area. We hope to secure ongoing sponsorship from local businesses to ensure our core costs are always covered and to eventually find a permanent home base for the team to operate from.
