Responding to more than 1,200 emergency callouts in 40 years has earned voluntary mountain rescue team leader and search dog handler Penny Kirby an MBE. Joanne Bednall reports.
After four decades volunteering as a mountain rescuer and search dog handler, covering some of the UK’s most notorious accident blackspots, hanging up her walking boots isn’t on Penny Kirby’s radar just yet.
A former social worker with a cerebral palsy charity, Penny grew up in Hertfordshire, but fell in love with the Lake District while pursuing her interest in walking and rock-climbing. By the time her husband had secured a job in the area and they’d moved to Eskdale in 1972, Penny had become well and truly hooked on this rugged part of west Cumbria.
One day in 1982, after Penny had completed Britain’s most famous mountaineering challenge, the Skye Ridge – the toughest of the Scottish Munros – she and a group of friends were relaxing in a pub when she got chatting with members of the Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team, who invited her along to a practice session.
“I thought, well I am living in the Lake District, and I’m a keen walker and climber, perhaps there’s something I can do to help,” explained Penny, whose perception back then was that she would most likely be involved in making the tea, manning the radio or driving a response vehicle.
But while sat at a team dinner one night, she jumped at a request to train her Border Collie Ben as a search dog.
“We did a weekend course and Ben showed enough potential to impress the team,” continued Penny, whose two-year-old pet went on to prove he possessed the necessary search dog qualities, such as initiative, confidence and a desire to hunt.
“Ben was also agile, liked people and had a good nose. Temperament is just as important as training – it’s about getting the balance between having control of your dog and them using their initiative.”
Penny and Ben spent a weekend training every month, as well as during the week, until they had completed each stage and met the necessary targets. Finally, after two years, Ben graduated as a fully trained search dog.
After getting on the callout list in February 1988, one of their first searches came totally out of the blue later that year, and proved to be a life-changing experience.
“I received a phone call from the team’s coordinator explaining that a plane had come down, but I had no idea of the sc
