Warwickshire Coverage
 

Hi All,

I and a few others are interested in setting a group up to cover the void that is currently Warwickshire. I have contacts within Emergency Planning teams at Warwickshire CC and so the LRF. (I work in flooding but have no response duties)

We are just putting the feelers out now to see what kind of uptake we get but I am confident we will be able to get a group together.

Just wondered if anyone from other groups could just have some clues as to the difficulties they had forming their groups and any advice or bits.

Many thanks
Ike.

i believe the area is already covered by groups, im sure they would be happy to get new members though.

As Trev states the area is probably arleady covered by a number of groups and to that effect the map available may be out of date. I suggest you send a pm to Tony Ferrari as he will be able to provide you with full and current details on the status of the area. Trev is also correct in that the appropriate group would likely welcome you as a new member.

I think the Midland Rover Owners Club cover this county. I do know there are a few members of Northants 4x4 Response Team who live in Rugby area who would be willing to help if asked.

Im in warwickshire and a member of the west mids group,warwickshire comes under their remit i believe, it would be good to have a few more members over my way tho,im a bit out on a limb here.perhaps you could PM me for a chat

I live in Rugby and I am a member of Northants 4x4 Response. A few of us are members of the Northants team even though we live in Warks, Leics, West Midlands and Oxfordshire.

depends on the parts of warwickshire where warwickshire boarders Leicestershire ie rugby we had call out there when it snowed. I suspect northants do the same. Coventry comes under the west mids county anyway and that area would be west mids rt.

For emergency planning/resilience purposes Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire are 'as one' even though they are different counties. MROC4x4R presently cover the CSW area with WM4x4R covering the West Midlands.
Mathew if you wish to pm myself (MR) or Tim Childe (WM) then I'm sure we help and that either group would welcome you.

Im a ,little confused now,when i joined up there was no mention of MROC4x4R, only WM.and as im based in warwick it looks like from the information given,im in theCSW area so in the remit of MR,not WM,are you guys any closer to me,im going to the WMsmonthly meeting this weekend and this is like a fifty odd mile round trip,if you're in Solihull do you meet and oparate more local to me.?

MROC wasnt part of the network until recentley so that is why only WM covered that area, this is now devided between the groups as said above, hope that helps.

I only joined a month ago,i may be wrong but i think im the only member of the WM group to be in warwickshire,would i be better suited to MROC due to my location or doesnt it matter?
Sorry to be a pain and ask silly questions but im quiet new to the 4x4R network and how it operates but if cov and warwick are not covered by WM for response/resilience purposes then there seems to be no point being in the west mids group as im not going to be utilised

i would suggest its up to you, all teams through the uk often border other groups and when busy often help other groups with a deployment, it is also not unkown for members to be members of dual groups, although we dont recommend as this can cause problems at busy times, if you,ve told your controller that you cant deploy then will save them wasteing time calling.so overall what suits you best.

I'm sure you can be afforded a transfere or be paced "on loan" if convenient and then simply relocate to the most appropriate group come the membership renewal time. The two groups concerned should be able to work that out ammicably between them Steve, this does happen from time to time for various reasons and isn't a problem and certainly not uncermountable...:)

Looking at the responses above it looks like it would be good to expand the MROC group to cover warwickshire in line with the CSWR area. I work with the guys already so know them and the patch well. Would this be a good way forward do we think?

Ike

Hi Steve
MR are based in Solihull, meaning our registered office is there, but our members are quite widely spread. We don't have specific regular meetings but if we did then they wouldn't neccessarily be much closer to you. You're location doesn't really matter as all groups would probably prefer their members to be spread around a little as this helps operationally. You are close to the boundaries of Worcestershire/Warks/Solihull/West Mids and close to the motorway network which I believe is an ideal location anyway.

Please be aware that when I mentioned Coventry/Solihull/Warks I was only talking about the Local Authority area, but these areas are just lines on a map and groups can and do overlap.
It's not always black & white, for instance, MR & WM have both been used by West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) who themselves cover a huge area including the Counties of Hereford, Shrops, Staffs, Warks, West Mids and Worcs. If called out by them to do a specific job, we can't stop at a County boundary so we venture into adjoing areas. For example, a while back one of our members from Warwickshire collected equipment from Birmingham and took it to west Herefordshire.

In other words, an 'operational area' really depends upon who your 'User Service' is at the time. Groups aren't just restricted to their Local Authority.

If I were you I wouldn't be too concerned but please talk to the guys in the WM group about your concerns if you attend the meeting.
Hopefully in the future, WM & MC will also be able to work together when and if the need arises.

Thanks for your detailed reply john,i understand the 'system'much better now,i realise we may have to cover a huge area and i myself am employed by WMAS so know full well the huge area that covers and the logistical problems we have moving kit around.i hope we can recruit a few more members in warwickshire as it does seem to be quiet sparse over my way(perhaps i need to do a recruitment drive)

not a bad idea steve, if you see a 4x4 in your patch just be cheeky and ask if their interested in what we do, ive found several members near me that way.:D

Hi Steve,

As has been pointed out the groups do tend to overlap quite a bit.

We have been talking with MROC of recent with regards to closer working together etc, so the boundaries should become even less of a problem for wantof a better description.

If your coming to the meeting on Sunday we can have a chat about it all then.

Cheers simon,yes im hoping to be there on sunday.

The Warwickshire Conundrum
 

I've recently been deliberating over which group to join, too.

Being based in the more Northerly part of Warwickshire, it does seem best to go with MROC for now -- I've approached them via their site -- but thought I'd drop a message in this old thread in case anyone had further thoughts on the matter.

Presumably the map still shows Warwickshire "greyed out" because MROCResponse came on board relatively recently I think?

Cheers,
James.

I'm on border of Warwickshire and Worcestershire . Evesham I'm happy to help out in either

Hi Simon,

Looking at your forum status it looks like you're not signed up to any group yet?
Our group (Gloucs & Worcs) are covering your area and have some more members around Evesham way.
If you want further details on how to become a member, please send an email to our membership officer (Pete Willis) on membership@gw4x4r.co.uk

Best regards, Ron