MORE than 50 brave cadets abseiled more than 90ft at Ewood Park to raise money for the Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue Team (RPMRT).

Dozens of youngsters from Hyndburn and Ribble Valley, Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley and Pendle Police Cadets took the plunge off the Jack Walker stand in a bid to raise funds.

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Abseilers, including Orla O’Beirne from Accrington, were taken to the back of the stand with a harness before climbing up a ladder to the roof.

Each cadet securely walked to the edge of the stand, climbed over and was gently lowered to the floor.

RPMRT has rescued more than 500 people since 2000. The team survives completely on donations and needs to raise at least £35,000 a year to keep going.

Chontelle Cummings, team member at RPMRT, said: “Everyone was very nervous going up but you could see big smiles on their faces when they came down.

“We did find a couple of girls hiding in the back trying to blend in with the adults, but who could blame them.

“It’s amazing to get the support from the cadets who have done an amazing job.

“Our equipment, which needs to be regularly replaced, is expensive and we have to pay for petrol for the cars and vans.”

Burnley cadet, Mitchell Ratcliffe, 15, was abseiling for the first time.

He said: “I was really nervous waiting to go up there.

“I’m not scared of heights, but you’re out in the open up there and it looks scary.

“I really like being with the cadets because it’s really good to get involved with the voluntary work.”

Sgt David Pascoe said: “We work very closely with the mountain rescue team and they provide an amazing response to people in critical danger.

“They save several lives and often go unnoticed and the cadets wanted to raise awareness of the team as well as money for them.

“The charity relies on fundraising and if we couldn’t give something back to the team it would be a sad state of affairs.”