In August 2012 two young rock climbers Jimmy Hyland and Jamie Fisher both from Buxton were climbing a route called The Prow on the Roaches near Leek when they had an accident. Both fell to the bottom of the climb and Jimmy sustained facial and wrist injuries whilst Jamie broke his ankle.

Buxton Mountain Rescue Team was called to the incident and after treatment the boys were evacuated by stretcher, Jimmy to the Midlands Air Ambulance and Jamie to a land ambulance.

After treatment in hospital both have made a full recovery and wanted to show their appreciation to the mountain rescue volunteers who helped them. They decided to raise money by getting sponsored to take part in the Matlock to Cromford Raft Race on Boxing Day.

Vice Chairman, Eric Needham, receives the donation from the raft crew.

Enlisting the help of Jimmy’s father and some friends they built a raft using oil drums and timber and duly set off, accompanied by rescue team member Josh Hall. Despite a few capsizes they had great fun and survived to the end albeit it very cold and wet.

The money flooded in and last week Jimmy, Jamie and a fellow ‘sailor’ Fletcher Smedley presented a total of £2068 to Buxton Mountain Rescue Team amid much applause from team volunteers attending a training session.

Vice Chairman Eric Needham said “This is an amazing amount of money to have raised for the team and we are extremely grateful to Jimmy, Jamie and the rest of the crew for their support. We rely entirely on donations to keep the team going and it is great that they decided to help us in this way. We are very pleased to see that they are both fit and well again.”

The money will go to the team’s ‘Shut that Door’ project which aims to replace the worn out garage doors at our base.