Replace “water” with “sandwich” and “mountain rescue” with “sportive feed station” and nobody would be surprised that they told you to do one.  Don’t see any difference here really.

well, on the mountain there’s less likely to be a Spar around the next corner.

What that really needs is joined up thinking where MRT are funded for supplies from the NHS and the budget is allocated.

Close. What really is needed is the government to fund the MRT.

One step at a time, would they be able to park on double yellows to hand out water then 😉

What really is needed is the government to fund the MRT.

Have they stopped giving them grants?

Have they stopped giving them grants?

That isn’t funding them is it?

<h5>Q: DOES ALL YOUR FUNDING COME FROM CHARITABLE DONATIONS?</h5>
A: No, we receive £7500 per annum from the police. After a period of intense lobbying, by northern rescue teams and our police force, the Scottish government grant a total of £300,000 per year to be shared by all the local mountain rescue teams in Scotland. About £18,000 of this comes to us. The public funding covers about one third of annual expenditure, with

http://the vital remainder coming from public donations. http://www.glencoemountainrescue.org.uk/faq/

Well a third of their needs are being met by governement funds which is probably not far away from some public services…

So not funded then. It’s an important distinction. We dont have fund raising for police, military or fire service. We do have charity for health which is disappointing

Maybe they were going to move on to another location on the runners’ route after the tail runner went through the point at which you saw them, so they would potentially need all the water they had for that next checkpoint.

Were they going to carefully carry the cups of unused water to the next checkpoint?

So not funded then

Part funded then

hahaha. Brilliant.

I’ve got to point out that English and Welsh teams get no government funding, other than sometimes being able apply for some DEFRA grant schemes for water/flood rescue things, and some of the Libor fines have paid for some training initiatives. We maybe get a couple of thousand a year in expenses from the police, but the team has annual running costs of about £45000 – which is just expenses and maintenance, not buying new kit/vehicles etc. We have one of the largest operational areas in the country too, and we scrape up a lot of mountain bikers.

Rescue teams work on a voluntary basis all over the world – that works well as it would be stupid to pay people to do this stuff so intermittently. Would be nice not to have to spend so much time and effort just to get the money together to do it though :-/

This thread makes me thirsty.

Want a drink?

Go on, just reach out and grab me…you know you want to.

So not funded then. It’s an important distinction. We dont have fund raising for police, military or fire service. We do have charity for health which is disappointing

It’s a moot point …

Firstly, the OP had no NEED for the water …. it was just a convenience.

The neighbour opposite gets picked up to go to/from the hospital.

They have to go past the bikeshop on the way..(well almost). are those arguing whether it is or is not publicly funding then saying that I should just ask them for a lift – just because they are publicly funded and it would be convenient for me?

In this case I doubt the people handing out the drinks have any idea how many runners still to come… all they are likely to know is if someone calculated correctly they should have enough … for all the OP knows they might have had runners need ing more than was estimated and be concerned they have enough or someone might just have knocked over a bunch accidentally and they are hoping it’s enough…

Either way, the runners set off with an expectation of having water, the OP didn’t and still had water…

Was the cup half full or half empty ❓

This thread makes me thirsty.

This thread makes … me sad.

Close. What really is needed is the government to fund the MRT.

Mmm… be careful what you wish for. It would be a very easy political decision for say the Scottish Govt to “fully” fund all the MRTs.  Who is going to argue against it, it wouldn’t cost that much in govt terms and could win good political PR.  So why do our MRTs, (Lifeboats, etc) not push harder.  Well, because with funding comes strings.  You’d quite reasonably be expected to dance to the tune of the funders.  That might be training standards, volunteer selection processes, response time targets, tasking to jobs that MRT volunteers don’t think of as MR (there is a split in the Scottish MRT community about what is genuine MR).   Inevitably govt would also start to ask – do we really need “both” those teams in that area – and you would find mergers etc.  MRTs are like any small local charity – it suits them to operate independently.

Now, the comments about funding when the ambulance service v’s the police mobilise them was interesting.  It sounds to me like someone in the MRT leadership is needing to have a frank discussion.  I think the fear there is that if you go to the ambulance service and say, “if you call us out to retrieve a casualty, saving you time and helping the casualty, we expect our direct out of pocket expenses covered” that those often quite interesting jobs will disappear.  If that happens you are talking to the wrong people at the Ambulance service.

Mmm… be careful what you wish for.

Completely agree … not to mention the potential knock on effects and regulations that could then be claimed to be put in place to prevent public money being spent.

I presume the Mountain Rescue were supposed to provide the cup as well. OP will not have been carrying his own.

OP is just a selfish attention seeker who lost out and he doesn’t like it. Is he still feeding at mummy’s breast?

Maybe, just maybe the MRT members you were trying to cadge a drink off have been called out once too often to help someone who was I’ll equipped, and should have known better. The OP may now have learnt to take enough water for his ride.

BTW, I did 10 years in MR.

Maybe, just maybe the MRT members you were trying to cadge a drink off have been called out once too often to help someone who was I’ll equipped, and should have known better. The OP may now have learnt to take enough water for his ride.

BTW, I did 10 years in MR.

This is what is so bizarre about the thread…. the OP did have enough water .. they just wanted some “extra… just in case” ….

Despite this I’m sure had they been in real need the MR would have given them some water anyway … (if only not to be creating their own problem) but the whole complaint seems to be that they “knew they had enough water left and it’s only water” .

From experience handing out drinks and refreshments I’d never have an idea about how many runners or riders have already passed… mostly they arrive in bunches and then your full on handing them out… the only measure is looking at your watch and saying “How long do you think we have and do we have enough?”

I always like to follow the maxim (paraphrasing from Gwen Moffat) of packing all the things you need, so that the coroner can’t get in that final dig about being ill equipped, and old enough to know better. Always loved that line, from the Quiniag chapter in Classic Walks.

The OP took the wrong approach

The first question should have been “do you have a collection tin?”

It would have greatly helped the response to the second question

If that happens you are talking to the wrong people at the Ambulance service.

It won’t.

If the OP signs up for this weekends Brecon Beast, MR will probably offer him some water if that helps.

paraphrasing from Gwen Moffat

Glad to hear that someone else’s heard of her. A real heorine, tough as.

To paraphrase Eric Newby

I only ever take luxuries, some other bugger’s bound to have remembered the essentials