An impromptu film designed to show school children how the mountain rescue operates is proving to be a big hit.

KS2 teacher Victoria Baker, from Raughton Head Primary School said: "Our topic was misty mountains, winding river and I would usually have asked for a volunteer to come in and talk about mountaineering to the children. But without being able to have someone come in, I contacted Keswick Mountain Rescue who put me in touch with Stuart Holmes.

"I wanted to get an experienced mountaineer to talk about his experiences and equipment used and to find out about mountain rescue. What Stuart has done with the film is much better than I was expecting. I think it is just fantastic I really appreciate it. Stuart was so engaged and more than happy to help, he said he will answer the children's questions by email."

Stuart Holmes, 54, from Keswick, is a professional photographer and member of Keswick Mountain Rescue Team.

Due to Covid restrictions and not wishing to put other team members at risk he created a simple scenario which could be made with Stuart and his partner, Dr Lucy Dickinson, who also lives at Keswick.

The scenario has a couple of climbers setting off late to climb a snowy and icy Helvellyn, without head torches they find themselves stuck on the fell and have to call for help. The climbers are then rescued by two members of the mountain rescue team.

He said: "Normally mountain rescue involves lots of people, but I had to make it just two people doing the roles of rescuers and rescued."

He said usually there are about 50 volunteers on the mountain rescue team and they also occasionally get help from Cockermouth mountain rescue.

Stuart enlisted the help of his partner Dr Lucy Dickinson, who works in the Glenridding surgery, to fill in with some of the roles in 'A mini mountain misadventure'. Lucy is not a member of the mountain rescue team.

The rescue was filmed on Helvellyn and the pair had to do two climbs of the mountain, once as climbers, then as rescuers.

Stuart said they had to work out the script in advance, then film one-sided radio conversations. The rescue was filmed over two days.

The film was shown in school on Monday to children in the hub, with a link so that children could also watch the film at home. Victoria said: "We have watched the video - the children loved it."

Some of their comments include: Alex: "Thank you for showing me what Mountain Rescue do."

Emmie: "I think Mountain Rescue are really kind because they volunteer and I like that, they also rescue animals."

Roanna: "The video was very inspirational and told us a lot about mountaineering."

Asher: "The video inspired me to make sure I always have the correct equipment next time I climb a hill."

Ted: "I really enjoyed the video and loved the pictures that Stuart used."

Grace: "I think Stuart and Lucy are really good actors. The video makes me want to be a mountaineer."

James: "The video was a good demonstration of what mountain rescue do!"

Harriet: "I liked that Stuart and Lucy acted out lots of parts in the video."

Victoria added: "It was such a fantastic resource for the children to have access to in these strange times and really well linked to our topic. The video really brought the classroom to life and was a great picture of how important our Mountain Rescue are and what a great job they do!"

The video is available to view on the Keswick Mountain Rescue facebook page. It has been viewed many times already, and there has been interest from several groups such as scouts, beavers and cubs.

Some of the comments on the Keswick Mountain Rescue Facebook page include:

Howard Greenwood said: "That's great, going to show our Beavers, Cubs and Scouts!"

Bernadette Grant: "This was most interesting and informative - well done."

Vaughan Williams: "Excellent piece of film well done and great message to get across and into schools."

Audrey Stephens said: "That's a brilliant resource which drives the message home."

Links to the video are at: http://www.adventuresmart.uk and https://vimeo.com/507624387

The mountain rescue is funded by donations, if anyone would like to donate they can do this at the Keswick Mountain Rescue team page.