NORTH Dartmoor Search and Rescue team celebrated 40 years of service on Saturday with a reunion of past members and a barbecue at Fingle Bridge, Drewsteignton.

The Okehampton-based team consists of 40 highly skilled volunteers from many walks of life. Its role is to assist the police and other emergency services by providing a search and rescue facility for missing and injured persons — 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.

Over the years the NDSRT has extended its skills and duties to more lowland areas of Devon, Cornwall and Somerset with around half of the call-outs being away from Dartmoor itself.

At the reunion party Lt Col Tony Clark, commandant of the Dartmoor Training Area of Okehampton Army Training Camp, was the guest of honour.