HOLME Valley Mountain Rescue Team displayed their new £20,000 control van at a reception in Meltham.

The Vauxhall Movano van has been converted to provide first aid for casualties and a radio to maintain communication with members of the search team.

Much of the cash has been raised by members but donations have been made by individuals and organisations.

The van keys were officially presented by John Bakanoba, chairman of Meltham Town Council, to the team chairman Mr Bob Wilson.

The council is allowing the vehicle to be kept in a council garage.

A buffet lunch for project sponsors was provided by the rescue team at the Durker Roods Hotel.

The control van has already been called out to searches several times since its conversion in November..

One call took the Holme Valley Mountain Rescue Team to Golcar to help police in a search for an injured man.

The crew were called out at 6.15am on Sunday March 7, to look for the injured man who had managed to make a call on his mobile phone before the battery went flat.

He was found suffering from hypothermia and a suspected dislocated shoulder.

The man was evacuated by stretcher and taken to hospital by ambulance.

The team helped their counterparts in Calder Valley, also in March, to hunt for a Halifax man who went missing in Oakworth.

Seventeen members of the team searched farmland for seven hours but the 80-year-old could not be found.