The Team was formed at a meeting in Armstrong's Cafe (also known as Central Cafe) with local mountaineers and Keswick MRT members on 23rd February 1953.

Amongst the Team's first vehicles were a Jennings brewery lorry and a Willy's Jeep, replaced with a Rolls Royce in 1959!

The Team's first garage was the old market hall in Fairfield car park, which was then the site of the town's livestock market.

To join the Team "Posession of a pair of boots, a rucksack and a tin of elastoplasts got you in!" The Team raised £50 for a rope, 6 karabiners and 2 lights.

A new Team base was built in 1962, mainly by Team members. Bedford ambulances were replaced by the Team's first Land Rovers.

Carrying and lowering casualty-laden stretchers has always been fundamental to the Team's operations. Here members carry a stretcher through a flooded Gatesgarth Farm yard.

In 1969, a tragic accident occurred whilst the Team was undertaking a stretcher lower on Low Crag, Buttermere. Sadly two Team members were killed and others seriously injured.

A rescue on Pillar, Ennerdale for a fallen climber. The first use by the Team of an RAF Wessex Whirlwind helicopter.

Team leader Jim Coyle trained 'Rock', one of the first search dogs in the area. Rescuers with search dogs in the Lakes now have their own organisation Lake District Mountain Rescue Search Dogs .

New advance base opened at Gatesgarth Farm. The farm was usually one of the first places to receive information if an accident had occurred in the Buttermere valley.

The Team starts using pagers to callout Team members when there's an incident. Very different to the 1950s... "when there was a callout a policeman would either walk or ride on his bike to where we lived and tell us we were needed".

An appeal was launched to fund a new HQ in Cockermouth.

During extreme winter weather on the west coast, the Team used their Land Rovers to help rescue and transport casualties.

In 2009 extreme weather brings severe flooding to Cockermouth and the Team plays a major role in rescues.

Our new HQ building opens in 2003 with 4 vehicle bays and a crag rescue training area.

The Team acquires a new Land Rover which is named "Jack's Pride" in honour of one of the Team's founding members, Jack Jackson.

Following the Cockermouth floods, a new inflatable boat is purchased to help support swift water rescue.

A new Mercedes Sprinter vehicle is purchased to help transport Team members and equipment.

Corona virus changes our operations with the use of PPE, social distancing and separate Red/Blue teams for resilience.

Annual operating costs have increased from £50 in 1953 to £100,000 in 2022!