Forbidden from wearing trousers to front line call-up: Mountain rescue's women

Chris Conway reports on the drive to involve more women in mountain rescue

Mountain rescue teams across the nation are trying to change perceptions as they break down barriers to build a more diverse body of volunteers.

With teams made up entirely of people giving up their time for free, rescue services in the North East and North Yorkshire are always recruiting and are keen to get more women involved.

Among those trying to attract more female volunteers is North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team, which has its base in Newcastle.

Graham Elder, from the team, said: "We're always recruiting every year to fill important places in the team, and if we excluded 50% of the population then it would just make life very difficult for us."

There are 47 volunteer rescue teams across England and Wales. Figures show in some teams women make up just 5% of their total volunteers, while even in teams with the highest proportion of female members, that number stands at just 30%.

Rachel Smith has been a volunteer with the North of Tyne team for more than a decade.

She told ITV News that although mountain rescue teams have historically had a gender imbalance, it was not enough to put her off.

"It was seen as a male environment for me, what happened was I was accepted and appreciated for bringing what I brought," she said. "And sometimes, actually, what I brought was a different view completely and different perspective to things and that was embraced.

"Thankfully our team is quite progressive."

For those who have been volunteering in mountain rescue for a long time, they say teams are now more representative of the communities they serve.Penny Brockman is a mountain rescue trailblazer. She was one of their very first volunteers in 1986.

During a training session in Northumberland, she told ITV News that teams have changed the way they operate to be more inclusive."We're living in a different society," she said. "I wasn't even allowed to wear trousers when I first joined.

"Teams are becoming more flexible and some teams are already putting in policies to support maternity leave, childcare, so we are thinking around those situations to become more open for women to join mountain rescue."Both Penny and Rachel are both encouraging more women to volunteer and say having diverse teams will even benefit those who come to rely on the help of rescue services.

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