CARRICK RESILIENCE TEAM

PROVIDING ASSISTANCE WHEN IT MATTERS THE MOST

Gill Sherry

I was unfamiliar with Carrick Resilience Team until very recently when I read about them in a local community newsletter. To my surprise, they’d been operating since 2019, when paramedic, Andrew Girvan, recognised the need for a local rescue team.

Andrew, based in Maybole, was concerned at the lengthy delays experienced in places such as beaches, Culzean Estate, and in the hills around Straiton, Maybole and Girvan, whilst waiting for the Scottish Ambulance Special Operations Team to come from Glasgow.

“If someone had injured themselves or became ill, there was a timely delay in moving the patients to the ambulance. So I had the idea of setting up a 4×4 off-road rescue team.”

Andrew was the owner of a Land Rover and asked other, like-minded friends with similar vehicles if they would be interested in setting up a voluntary rescue team. They agreed, each bringing valuable contributions to the group.

“Some of the team are also paramedics. A couple of people work at the hospital. We’ve got doctors, teachers, council workers, farmers…”

Of course, it’s one thing having a great idea, but it’s quite another securing funding.

“We get grants from various sources,” Andrew informs me. “The Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) give us quite a bit. We’ve had money from South Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership, The National Lottery Community Fund, William Grants Distillery, and Wind Farm Community Funds, plus donations from the general public.”

Carrick Resilience Team has been a registered charity since August 2019, the initial concept being to get equipment to a casualty and extricate them to a waiting ambulance as quickly and safely as possible.

“As time developed, we started to get asked to do other things. For instance, it’s quite common in the winter for vehicles to get stuck on single track roads between Straiton and Glentrool. It can be a different world up there… it can have two-foot of snow when it’s just an inch down in Maybole. So we were getting tasked by the Police to help with motorists that were snowed in.”

They were also asked by the Police to help with vehicles stuck on the beach and have been heavily involved with the Ayrshire Civil Contingencies Team (ACCT) providing generators, light, shelters and heating; things which result in an incident being safer and resolved quicker.

Although, as the name suggests, they operate in the Carrick area, the team has been known to offer assistance further afield.

Carrick starts just south of Ayr and goes all the way down to slightly north of Cairnryan. But if there’s an incident outwith the Carrick area and we’re the most suitable and closest resource, we do sometimes head out into Ayr or East Ayrshire. We’ve been to calls in Patna, Mossblown, Ayr… even right down into Glentrool which is in Dumfries & Galloway.

One of the reasons the team is asked to help is because of its Argo, an Extreme Terrain Vehicle.
“There’s nothing really that can beat it in terms of off-road capabilities,” says Andrew.

I’d spotted the Argo when I first arrived, parked alongside the charity’s pick-up – it really is a beast! But it takes more than a vehicle to carry out a successful rescue. It’s the volunteers who make the difference.

“Currently we have 15 volunteers aged from 18 to 80, including two females. Some are operational members and others help with fundraising and stuff like that. We could do with another two or three team members, especially in the Maybole and Girvan area.”

If you’re interested in joining the team, there is a link on the Carrick Resilience Team Facebook page. Be aware, though, that you do need a certain level of fitness, and you also need to be aware of the challenges.

“Some jobs are mentally or emotionally challenging, others are physically challenging. Other jobs just drain you of all your energy because you’re out for hours and hours. But no-one is pressurised to do anything they’re not comfortable doing.”

Andrew himself is unfazed by the challenges that volunteering presents. In fact, it’s those challenges that appeal to him the most.

“I enjoy the variety of it, the challenge of getting injured people in really remote places back to safety.

And I enjoy using the equipment… the Argo is great to use. My favourite job at work isn’t the major trauma calls, it’s going to somebody that’s got a broken leg up in the hills.”

The team receives between 20 and 30 calls every year, some direct from the public, others from the Emergency Services. They assisted the Police in January this year by cutting and removing fallen trees destroyed by Storm Éowyn. They’ve assisted the Fire Service by locating hot spots with their thermal imaging drone and have assisted with several casualty extractions. In addition, their drone has been used to help in the search for missing dogs, and they’ve supplied generators used to provide power and heat in a community space.

The team meets up once a month for routine training. They also have a Christmas night out and an AGM at the end of the summer which usually involves a barbeque. It’s important to socialise, after all.

“We also did a sleigh run last year.

We asked Carrick Round Table if we could borrow their sleigh, and we took it around Girvan on Christmas Eve. We raised about £400 but we didn’t do it as a fundraiser, we did it for the sheer fun of it and for the Christmas joy. The streets were packed, it was a real community event.”

Which is fitting, because the community was at the heart of Andrew’s original desire to set up the team in the first place. And although they do receive plenty of calls during the winter months, the warmer months also result in pleas for help.

“When the weather is really good, we get more calls in terms of medical evacuations because more people are up in the hills enjoying themselves.”

Those calls are received by Andrew who speaks with the person or organisation requiring assistance and ascertains the best plan of action. He then contacts his team via a pager app to see who’s available and to put a plan in place.

“We have working agreements with all the Emergency Services. People have been known to phone us directly and we’ve arrived before the Emergency Services and been able to search for the person or to get them ready to be moved. As long as there’s a genuine reason, I’m happy for them to get in touch direct.”

However, if ever you find yourself in need of genuine, emergency assistance, always call 999.