Bridgend Mountain Rescue Team was formed in 1964 by Mike Rudall, after he
completed a Rover
Scout project in Bridgend, whereby he realised that there was the need for a
civilian mountain rescue facility within the South Wales area. Mike was
greatly helped and assisted in the initial formation of the team by Colin
Pibworth of RAF St.Athan Mountain Rescue Team, who was a recognised
authority on RAF Mountain and Desert Rescue. For a number of years Bridgend
MRT was a formal sub unit of RAF St.Athan MRT and was the only civilian team
to have the prestigious call sign AlpineBravo
The team initially formed as Bridgend Scout Mountain Rescue, then in 1967
the team changed its na
me
to Bridgend Mountain Rescue team, as it was completely independent from the
Scout movement adopting a new badge and had many members throughout all of
South Wales
The insignia on the badge was adopted from Keynan Swaili from an original team member.
On the 1st May 1983, Mike
Ruddal (also known as Nog) tragically died whilst rescuing a group of scouts
hill walking in extremely bad weather conditions on Pen y Fan, Brecon
Beacons. The scouts had fallen down the north face of Pen y Fan and during the
subsequent rescue operation, Mike had shielded one of
the casualties with his own
body, during spontanous rock fall and was kille
d.
A memorial stone for Mike can be seen at the Mountain Centre at Libanus near
Brecon.
In 1997 the team changed its name, to Western Beacons Mountain Search and
Rescue Team. The name change to Western Beacons Mountain Search and Rescue
Team, gave a positive indication of the team’s primary operational area
within South Wales, for search and rescue operations. The addition of Search
to the team’s name, highlighted the variety and differing nature of the
incidents attended, such as urban and rural searching, as well as the search
and rescue activities in mountainous and rough terrain.
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