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Team members have been refreshing their skills in different aspects of First Aid and a variety of Cave Rescue techniques both above and below ground.
Our practice locations can range from indoor climbing facilities (such as the excellent training areas at Arco in Eccleshall which we are able to use each year), to "classroom" based theory sessions and full underground practices with members of other organisations.
We also hold 'familiarisation' exercises with local Fire & Rescue teams and other emergency services and members attend training session with Severn Area Rescue Association, Gloucestershire Cave Rescue Group, South & Mid-Wales Cave Rescue Team and other CROs.
If you are an experienced caver and would like to join us, please contact one of the Wardens on the 'Contact Us' page.
Recent Training Events
Land Search Training, May 18th
On a lovely sunny Sunday several Land Search trained team members joined colleagues in the Severn Area Rescue Association (SARA) for a series of training exercises and workshops based on and around the beautiful Bromesberrow Estate near Ledbury. The various exercises included a dense woodland search for a missing person, First aid and recovery of a seriously injured mountain biker, and a water margin workshop. The day was rounded off with a presentation of a statue to Dr John Dutton as he stepped back from being a Search Controller for Severn Area Rescue Association - a role he has held for many years. We wish him all the best for his 'quiet life'.
Evening Training, 11th April
During this Friday evening training session team members refreshed their skills in rigging the Larkin Frame on the grass alongside the Fire Station yard.
This item of kit is useful for rescues involving cliff edges and shafts that can easily be reached. Mounting holes for the small version have been added to a couple of shaft caps in South Shropshire to assit in rescue or evacuations from those sites.
Evening Rescue Training, Wookey Hole, 27th January
Members of MCRO were invited by Mendip Cave Rescue to attend a rigging practice that was being held within Wookey Hole. The initial aim being to try to rig a traverse across a chamber and get a casualty from one end to the other using their new stretcher – a Petzl Nest. This seems a great piece of kit, it has an integral casualty harness and foot tapes and is used very extensively within Europe. Over the course of the next few hours, multiple iterations of belaying methods were tried, some were more successful than others. Feedback from the willing casualty in the stretcher was that it was comfotable and felt secure, but the hauling team could have been a little more consistent – the jerkiness was not ideal and they were glad that they hadn't just had a meal!
Winter Training Day, 12th January, 2025
Once again our first training session of 2025 took place in the excellent facilities at Arco Professional Safety Services training centre in Eccleshall.
The morning sessions included sessions on Kit inspection with some scary rope and harness samples, plus a First Aid refresher and some short talks about recent underground rescues.
After lunch the 'underground' rescue involved the recovery of a casualty from the ARCO 'cave' to the top of their tower, followed by a lower from there to the ground and a stretcher carry through the building to the first floor training room.
