DARTMOOR Rescue Group member Terry Bumford was celebrating last week, after receiving his 25 years' service certificate to Mountain Rescue England and Wales from the patron of Dartmoor Search and Rescue (Tavistock), Lord John Burnett in a short ceremony held at their base in Tavistock.
Terry originally joined the team in 1982. He had only been in for a few weeks when his day job with the Royal Marines, took him away from the moor and into the Falklands war.
Fortunately he came back unscathed and apart for a few years' gap, has worked hard for Dartmoor Rescue. He still is a valued member of the team today.
A spokesman for the DRG said: 'Terry has many a story to tell about his time with the team, including how on one occasion, while out on a rescue in the middle of Dartmoor, he became a casualty himself when crossing a river, he broke his leg. Despite that setback, as soon as he recovered Terry was back helping to save others in distress as and when the need arose.
'Not only did Terry give up a lot of time to the team, in 1986 he trained and qualified our first search and rescue dog handler.'
Terry becomes the third member of the team to receive the long service award, following in the footsteps of current team chair and search dog handler Nicki Lyons (MBE), and team member and search dog handler Alex Lyons.