Penrith Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) is based in Penrith but covers the largest geographical area of any of the Lake District mountain rescue teams.

The patch extends from the Shap and Mardale fells in the south up to the Borderlands around Longtown.

It includes Cross Fell in the North Pennines and the fells between Ullswater and Haweswater, including High Street.

Rob Holden is team leader and he explained: “It’s hard to imagine how big our area is, but it helps when you realise we need eight different Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer maps to cover it.

"Fortunately Penrith is a good hub for travelling in all directions and we can cover the miles quickly.”

Penrith MRT’s activities aren’t only about mountains.

They include searches for missing vulnerable people in Carlisle, Penrith and across the area and a significant proportion of team members are trained to rescue people from flooding and rivers.

“The Caldew, Petteril, Eden, Eamont and Esk have a considerable catchment area and rapidly become raging torrents in flood conditions,” says Rob.

“Having members trained and equipped for Swift Water Rescue is vital to help us support local communities."

The equipment and vehicles needed by a modern rescue team require space.

Penrith MRT has been exploring options for a new base for several years, as David Houldridge, chairperson of the team, explains.

“Our current base was created behind the old Penrith fire and ambulance stations in 1990 when our focus was purely on hill and mountain rescues," he said.

"Today we need to store much more sophisticated equipment for our casualty care role and for water and winter rescues.

"Add to that the demands of running incidents from a cramped operations room and a meeting room that’s too small for the whole team to meet together and a new, larger base is increasingly important.

"We are actively pursuing possible locations and have ring-fenced part of the funding so, once we have a site, it’ll be all hands on deck for fundraising.

"Help is always welcome!”

Readers can find out more about the team, its new base appeal and call outs online at the team's website here or on Facebook.