ONE of East Lancashire's longest serving lifesavers today revealed he was inspired to help others after being rescued from a mountain when he was 15.

Dave Barrington, 51, of The Bowling Green, Edenfield, Rawtenstall, is set to receive a Queen's Volunteer Award alongside 20 other volunteers with more than five years' service with the Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue Team.

Dave, who has 30 years' experience and now leads the 35-strong team, said he became curious about the work of the service when he was rescued by the team after getting into difficulties while out fell-walking. His interest led him to join the service aged 21.

Dave, who also has a full-time job as a sales director, said: "I was inspired to find out more after I had an accident on the fells when I was 15.

"I had never even heard of any mountain rescue service before then.

"The service has changed dramatically in the time I've been involved. We used to be lucky to get one call-out a year, now it's more like 90.

"The work is very varied. There are no big mountains in this area, but there's a lot of open moorland.

"We are called out to Pendle Hill quite often and a huge variety of other jobs.

"Any successful rescue is a good thing for us and some of the people keep in touch.

"We went to a man in 1999 who had been walking his dog in some woodland and fell down a large drop, landing on the dog. He was seriously injured but the dog saved his life and we still hear from him.

"You have to be fairly fit to be involved in this type of work, but I hope to be doing it for a good few more years.

"It's good to watch all the younger people coming in and getting more experience."

All of the team members have full-time jobs and the Rossendale and Pendle team includes policemen, doctors, electricians and office workers.

An awards evening will be held at the Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue Team's headquarters in Clegg Street, Haslingden, next Wednesday, when the 21 volunteers with more than five years' service will be presented with the Queen's Golden Jubilee medal.

The awards are being handed out to mark people's contribution to their communities and to mark the Jubilee.