MEMBERS of Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team Tavistock (DSRT) were thrilled to receive a gift from one of the original and founding members of the team, John Duff, recently.

John, who now lives in a care home in Scotland, made a gift of £5,000 to the team that he, and a small but dedicated group, started with great enthusiasm some 48 years earlier.

In 1968, a group of Sandhurst Army Cadets got lost on the moors. Tragically, two of them died. Bill Ames, who was the county youth officer, recognised that Dartmoor was the only wilderness area without rescue cover in the country and pledged to fill that gap.

John Duff was a housemaster at Kelly College at the time and, being a mountain leader, he used to take parties of students on to Dartmoor. He knew the moor well and had excellent navigational skills.

The team started one evening in the police station at Tavistock. Bill and John were joined by Jim Braven, John Killingbeck, Diarmid Cross and Ian Kilpatrick. They advertised for volunteers and were inundated with enthusiastic people. The problem was that many of them had no navigational experience at all.

A band of suitable volunteers were selected and they embarked on a programme of training on a Thursday evening. It is believed that the tradition of ending the evening in a pub started in these early days too.

The local farmers soon caught on, calling out the team to rescue sheep from quarries or suchlike. The prison governor also liked to call out the team if there was an escaped prisoner. However, these incidents were not why the team had been set up.

John recounted one of the more obscure ‘rescues’ from the early days, when an abandoned car was discovered on the edge of Dartmoor. After a long search, a rather embarrassed couple were discovered safe and sound, if not a little flustered. They were advised by the team to leave a note on their windscreen for any future escapades!

DSRT Tavistock is a registered charity and is funded exclusively by grants and donations.

Fundraising officer Garon Willis said: ‘We are extremely grateful to John for his generosity. It is so encouraging to see that one of our founder members still has such a passion for the team and the work we do. John’s gift will make a huge difference.’

The team has changed significantly since those early days, but the vision of that small group of volunteers paved the way for the professional team that exists today. It is still formed entirely from volunteers, who train to a very high standard to maintain the team’s status as a mountain rescue team.

It forms part of the Dartmoor Rescue Group with sister teams in Okehampton, Plymouth and Ashburton and is part of Mountain Rescue England and Wales. Team members are on call throughout the year to respond to requests from the police for assistance to people lost or injured on Dartmoor and the surrounding areas.

DSRT Tavistock will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2018 and the connection with the founding members resonates all the more as that approaches.

Rhodri Davey, team chairman, said: ‘It is so encouraging to have contact with John and to be able to tell him about the hard work that the team continues to undertake, thanks to the vision, passion and dedication of a few in 1968.’