The Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team was formed in the early 1960's as a result of an incident in the Cheviot Hills when two farmers returning from market died from exposure during a snow storm.

The team is affiliated to the Mountain Rescue Council (MRC) of England and Wales, the co-ordinating body for all rescue teams, and is also a member of the North East Search and Rescue Association (NESRA), one of eight regional panels‘ within the MRC.

The Team's primary functions are:

The team consists of around thirty five full team members some of whom are voluntary National Park Wardens. Although this warden commitment is no longer an essential requirement we still maintain our links with the National Park Authority.

Each team member supplies their own personal equipment for example rucksack, boots, waterproof etc; further to this members also pay their own traveling expenses for journeys to and from team events. The team supplies each Full Team Member with a limited amount of equipment such as basic medical gear, message pager and jacket.

We expect prospective team members to have a good deal of experience and a high level of competency in hill/mountain craft, the ability to navigate using map and compass and be able to take care of themselves on the hill for at least 24 hours. We are unable to afford the time to devote to the absolute novice to train them in general "hill" competence.

In addition to training, mainly during the summer months, we attend a number of the country shows around the county of Northumberland as part of an on going public awareness campaign. At these events we provide everything from static displays to full demonstration crag rescues.

The team’s primary area of responsibility is that area which is covered by the Northumbria Police Authority. In the event of our specialist skills in search and rescue being required the team is "called out" by the police.

As a secondary area of responsibility we can be called upon to assist other teams in NESRA when extra personal are required and indeed, during a major incident, could find ourselves operating in other parts of the country assisting teams from other panels.

Team members are available to address organisations and clubs on the role and function of the team. We are also happy to offer advice as we believe that personal responsibility and preparedness can prevent many of the incidents requiring our service.