Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team Tavistock will be heralding the start of autumn with a special ‘meet the public’ event near Tavistock on Saturday, September 6.

Members of the team will be at Pork Hill car park beside the Tavistock to Princetown road between 10am and 4pm.

The date has been changed from the original one, Sunday, September 7, because of the bad weather forecast.

The event offers the chance to find out more about the team’s work finding missing and injured people on the moor.

One of the two team Land Rovers will be there for people to see, alongside equipment, including special stretchers used for transporting people with back or neck injuries.

Team deputy fundraising manager Mike Sherry said: “We do these events on a fairly regular basis to do a bit of public relations but also to raise awareness on safety on the moor in general. It is also a chance for people to meet the team. We have 50 members in total. They won’t all be there but quite a few will be.

“There will also be a chance to look at some of the equipment we use, like stretchers and first aid equipment. And we hope to have a rescue dog there at some point.

“We will have a stretcher there that we use for casualties who are injured so they don’t move when we are transporting them off the moor. We are also offering people a chance to learn to read a map and use a compass as part of the safety briefing.”

He stressed that it was vitally important to learn these traditional skills even in the days of GPS and mobile technology.

“The thing is that mobile phones don’t always work that is the problem,” said Mike. “Before the days of mobile phones, it was always maps and compasses. A lot of people have that knowledge. It is all about being prepared when you go out on the moor.”

He also stressed the need to wear the right clothing for an expedition on Dartmoor.

“The weather can change very very quickly on the high moor, so it is vital that people are aware of and wear the right footwear and clothes and carry waterproofs, a drink and some food with them.”

He described the range of incidents the team were called out to – from people are simply unprepared for a sudden change in the weather, to those who have simply got lost and those who are in distress of some kind.

“People get inured – with the best will in the world it can happen to anyone,’ he said. “You can twist your ankle on a rock or break your ankle. The ground on the moor is very uneven. We also go out looking for missing persons. They can be people who have got themselves lost and then there are ‘vulnerable people’. These can be people who are maybe suffering from Alzheimer’s and sometimes they can be people who don’t want to be found, but who other people care for. We also carry out river rescues.”

The Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team Tavistock is a charity, one of four rescue teams on the moor. It is funded through donations and fundraising, and all its team members are volunteers. Find out more at www.dsrt-tavistock.org.uk