Each year District Association’s across the country choose a charity  to support, below is the Lakeland DA’s current charity and charities from previous years along with the amounts raised 

CURRENT CHARITY 

Blood Bikes – Cumbria 

Blood Bikes Cumbria tells us a little about what they do. 

Blood Bikes Cumbria is a registered charity (Charity number: 1159026) organisation that transports blood, plasma, platelets, samples, vaccines and other urgently required medical items for the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust between premises in North & West Cumbria and hospitals / laboratories in the Newcastle area. 

Blood Bikes Cumbria is part of NABB the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes. 

We operate our service 365 days a year and do most of our riding at night, sometimes in unpleasant weather. Our volunteers ride/drive our fleet of liveried blood bikes/cars to ensure we present a professional Image. 

PREVIOUS YEARS 

Keswick Mountain Rescue  

Lakeland DA’s chosen charity for 2022 to 2024 was Keswick Mountain Rescue. The Keswick Mountain Rescue Team was founded in 1947 and is a charity that depends entirely on donations. During recent times there have been around 100 rescues a year and each call-out generally involves 12 to 20 members and takes anywhere between one hour and several days. This can only be achieved through the dedication of the current 55 volunteers, the generosity of their employers, and the ongoing support of the public. 

During our December 2023 meet, we visited Keswick Mountain Rescue where representatives received a cheque for £623.69 raised from fundraising events held throughout the year at our short meets and THS’s, events that included book sales, raffles, and competitions. 

Whilst visiting the Rescue Centre Headquarters the DA committee members unexpectedly got to witness firsthand how some of these donations are put to use when 

They found the rescue team responding to a local incident involving 3 climbers where one had slipped, fallen and badly injured his knee. Working in fading light and dropping temperatures the Keswick team assessed how to extricate the casualty. Air support was called, and the casualty was winched and airlifted by the Coastguard to Cumberland Infirmary whilst the Keswick team rigged a rope rescue system to retrieve a third uninjured climber. By working together with the Coastguard, the team avoided what would have been a very long and difficult stretcher carry with a cold casualty. The rescue involved 24 volunteers 

We want to thank all of our campers for the kind generosity and the support they showed over the year for this amazing charity. 

Lakeland DA