Lottery Fund

The Bowland and Pennine Mountain Rescue team applied for lottery funding, to provide a new building for their equipment. They are all volunteers who give their time to save people in difficulties and it is unbelievable that they were turned down. The reason being that they didn't qualify under the rules for funding which distributes cash under the ***le of the Big Lottery Fund, lists six qualifying groups — including asylum seekers, ethnic minorities, the elderly, disabled and children.
Is this another instance of PC gone mad? where are they supposed to find funding for this vital work?

[Mattylad]

[sarcasm]
It's quite right that they should have been turned down of course, the money is better spent going on things like works of art that no one wants & cost millions or on paper mache cows etc, not on silly useless things like "mountain rescue", ha, you'd think that they thought that they did something like save lives & it would help them to do so...
[/sarcasm]

Yet another reason to stop wasting your money on the lottery.

[grannyclaret]

well the lottery ticket bought and not claimed in this area went out of date yesterday ,why cant they give you that ? 2.8mllion could be well used by the mountain rescue ,and also its local( ie up north )still if it had been south of watford gap they might have got it in the first place !

[Col.Kurtz]

Grrrr! They shouldn't have to rely on charity in the first place...or should be near the top of the list for funding, it is an emergency service after all. Reminds me of the guided walks in the Lakes that has to stop because it doesn't fit the criteria for lottery funding, ie not enough minorities and inner city groups were using the service - just 'normal' people...The rescue team might be needed a lot more now!

[dellym]

makes my blood boil....id love to meet these so called board members who decides who gets what!!! Mountain rescue teams do very good work..only on sunday a friend of mine fell whilst hill walking and had to be rescued (hes in hospital with a shattered shoulder), without these experts alot of people would die or end up crippled.

What has annoyed me more than ever is an annoucement today that 'works of art' are to be placed on ten beauty spots. They quoted Pendle Hill and Darwen Tower as two of them and one of the 'works of art ' is a spaceship of all things. Can you imagine that desecrating Pendle Hill? What I would like to know is where the money is coming from and why couldn't it have been used to help the mountain rescue team.

[Col.Kurtz]

It's all 'Fur coat - no Knickers' They want to get the mundane stuff like bins sorted before they start with the grand follys, A sculpture should be a finishing touch to a successful project - not a gravestone.

[dellym]

wow..nicely put col!!

[wayneyboy1942]

Well I may upset a few of you but why do'nt people that go up mountains pay a fee to be rescued? It anoys me that I have to pay holiday insurence to go sunbathing when daft beggers can pothole and climb mountains and expect to be rescued for free! Some people do'nt bother about the weather or needing proper gear. I do think the mountain rescue people do a good job,and the lotto money is spent daft.

I can see where you are coming from Waneyboy, but they also rescue people who are fell walking or on the moors around this area. It would be a pity if only those who could afford to pay for help if it was needed walked in our beautiful countryside. I'm sure many of those rescued give a donation to the mountain rescue team, but it a service manned by volunteers and couldn't charge those they rescue. If they have charitable status they would find themselves in hot water from the Charities Commission.

[wayneyboy1942]

you have a point Nessie but when you think of the daft ones who go potholeing and climb in bad weather and with no thought to the cost of rescue,and people having to pay for going on holiday abroad.the air ambulance is another sevice that needs charity as well,the lottery is spent on some daft stuff most of which is just rubbish.

[Col.Kurtz]

A good point Wayney, some people need protection from their own stupidity sometimes though.

There will always be the 'daft thoughless people' but many of the rescues are of sensible people who are just unfortunate to have an accident while out. Accidents can happen to the best of us and it is just as well mountain rescue don't differentiate, they only see them as people who need help.
What makes me angry about the decision not to fund them is that on many occasions the police call them in to help search for elderly folk and children who have gone missing on the moors etc. Surely that fulfills the criteria they have laid down.