A tribute to Kenneth Smallpage, a founder member of the Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association who died 22nd April 2010.

The members of the Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association wish to acknowledge the death of Mr Kenneth Smallpage a founder member of the Association and a well respected member of the team.

From his early days, Ken was an expert climber having gained considerable experience in the mountains of Wales and the Lake District. With his friend Len Huff, who was a keen pot-holer and walker, whenever the opportunity arose, they would go off together rambling in Upper Wharfedale and the surrounding district.

During the summer of 1948, on one such jaunt on Old Cote Moor, near to Kettlewell, they came across a lamb that had evidently fallen some 25 feet down an old lead mine shaft. Undaunted they both made the difficult descent down the shaft and between them brought out the frightened lamb, none the worse for its fall.

Just a week later Ken and Len carried out a similar rescue at another old mine shaft in the area and subsequently each of these incidents was reported to the local Police, thus setting a precedent.

A short time later in early August, the Police contacted the pair to help search for a walker who had been reported missing in the Starbotton area. Joined by ten other local men the team set off, with the Police, to search for the walker. Unfortunately the man’s body was found at the base of a small rock escarpment. Until the Police forensic team could arrive, Ken and Len stayed with the body. During this time they reflected upon their activities over the previous few weeks and decided that there was a definite need for a rescue team, to help the Police, in the Upper Wharfedale area.

This was followed by the inaugural meeting of the Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association, held in the Police Station, on August 30^th 1948.

In those early days, other local men were invited to join the team and their wives, including Mrs Smallpage, helped raise money for desperately needed equipment. The team started off with one first aid rucsac, a manila rope and a rope ladder.

Ken was chosen to be the climbing leader for the team. The following year he helped to rescue two climbers stranded on Kilnsey Crag, which required him to be lowered some 80 feet down the rock face and for his part in the rescue, Ken was awarded a Vellum Testimonial by the Royal Humane Society. Later that same year, the team was to return to Kilnsey Crag to rescue a sheep stranded on a ledge. Subsequently, he was awarded a bronze medal and certificate from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to show their appreciation for courage and humanity.

These incidents established a pattern for the Association which not only rescues humans but also animals as part of its voluntary work in the Dales.

In 1951 Ken’s business interests took him away from the Dales, at which time the Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association made him a Life Member and through his continued friendship with the Huff family he took an interest in the way the team continued to grow and develop.

Ken proudly received his Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in 2003 from the Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Lord Crathorne, at a ceremony held in Grassington along with some 50 other team members for being a committed member of a recognised Mountain Rescue team.

In September 2007, Ken again revisited the team to be presented with a Long Service award on behalf of the Mountain Rescue England and Wales again by the Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Lord Crathorne for his involvement with the team for over fifty years.

In the following September, Ken was presented to HRH The Duke of Gloucester KG GCVO, at the sixtieth anniversary of the inauguration of the Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association. He was able to recount and elaborate to HRH of those early days when the team was first formed.

The Association has always had a ‘family’ spirit – looking after each other at difficult times and this is supported by a quote from a letter written by Ken, “ ....it was the intention of Len and myself to create something which, while serving a serious purpose, was good fun for all who took part”.

This indeed has been fulfilled throughout the sixty years of the team and many members have passed through its ranks, and continue to do so, enjoying the many and varied activities it undertakes.

The team remains justly proud and privileged to be a part of what Ken and the others worked so hard to set up all those years ago and it is with great sadness we mourn his passing.