IT was a busy few days for members of the Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team.

In the last five days, the volunteers were called out to two serious incidents, took part in a water training session with the Coastguard and collected two generous donations from two other charitable trusts. Members also did a presentation about their work to a group of Masons from Stokesley.

A spokesman said: "The Rotary Club of Teesside has chosen team and the Butterwick Hospice for their charities this year. They raised £4500 for each charity at a lecture in Yarm featuring motor racing engineer Rob Smedley in April. A further £620 was raised through a street collection in Yarm during Easter. The Rotary Club's next fundraising event is a charity Golf day on June 21 in Dinsdale.

Darlington and Stockton Times:

Members of Cycling for Proffitt

"Cycling for Proffitt are a group of cyclists from the Northallerton area who began raising money for charity when their friend, Geoff Proffitt, was seriously injured in a mountain biking accident. Over the last seven years they have raised many thousands for spinal injury charities and the rescue team after we helped in his rescue after his accident on the Moors.

"We are regularly called out to work alongside the area's coastguards and Sunday's training session in Saltburn was the first time we have done a joint training exercise based on water rescue. Around a third of our team are trained and equipped for rescue work in and around water and we can be called out to help in flooding and other water-based emergencies to anywhere in the country."

Darlington and Stockton Times:

Donation from the Rotary Club

The volunteers are on call 24 hours a day and regularly leave their work and families to go to the help of others in need in the more remote areas where the professional emergency service can't easily operate.