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A worried woman contacts the police in the early hours of a cold December morning.

Her father, who is on a walking holiday in Northumberland with a friend and has recently been diagnosed with angina, has failed to make his daily call to let her know he is all right.

After initial inquiries do not turn up any trace of the pair, the police contact Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team.

Team leader Bill Ellis pages members of his team and asks them to meet at a lay-by at Winter's Gibbet, off a remote moorland Northumberland road.

The team's search dog Gem

Search dogs

The team's incident control unit is set up in the lay-by and Bill starts planning the search. This is a crucial stage of the operation when it is decided where the teams will search and time spent planning now can cut chunks out of the time spent searching later.

As the team members arrive they are split into pairs to search different areas. Search dogs are also taking part in the operation.

The first missing man is found in a small stone building. He has a head injury and the team are concerned so they call in a helicopter to take him to hospital.

He says his friend was with him but walked off. Another team carries on the search and a short time later he is also found injured and has to be carried off the moorland by stretcher.

Both are found within three-and-a-half hours.

Shepherds' deaths

This was one of the team's regular exercises but could just have easily been a genuine emergency. The exercises are run in such a way as to make them as realistic as possible and to test out their search and rescue procedures.

Two of the team's vehicles

The Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team was set up in the early 1960s following the deaths of two shepherds from Alnham in extreme snow.

A memorial cairn was erected in November 2007 as a tribute to the memories of the shepherds.

The team has about 40 members all of whom are volunteers. They cover a massive patch, which mirrors Northumbria Police's area, from north Northumberland down to Sunderland.

It relies on voluntary contributions and fundraising to cover its running costs and is currently trying to raise £30,000 for a new vehicle.

It works with the North of Tyne Search and Rescue Team on all call outs.

Although, as the name suggests, the team searches rural areas, it is also called on by the police to search urban and semi-urban areas and its expertise can be used in most environments.

Groundbreaking research

The team has a unique string to its bow - long-standing members Pete Roberts and Dave Perkins set up charity The Centre for Search Research.

Josh Dunn helps treat a 'casualty'

The groundbreaking work they have done in search management has led to them becoming forerunners in the field with their expertise in demand at conferences in the UK and around the world.

It includes their study into missing people which analyses searches involving certain people, for example Alzheimer's sufferers, children and walkers, and their behaviour. The aim is that it will help with the planning of future searches.

Pete said: "The analysis that we do is quite unique.

"We analyse past incidents and missing person behaviour statistics.

"It's a nice feeling that we can put something back in."

Love of outdoors

Team leader Bill Ellis said the importance of the pair's work cannot be underestimated.

He has been involved with mountain rescue for 15 years and has been leader of the Northumberland team for 13 months.

It was his love of the outdoors which attracted him to get involved.

He said they actively recruit new members and they are constantly grateful for the cooperation of employers and families who support members when they are called out day or night. He said he is grateful to his employers, Durham Constabulary.

Team members put a 'casualty' in a stretcher

Another important section of the team is the search dogs. Brian Allport has been with the Northumberland team since 1990.

Brian has a search dog called Gem and he is currently training Sam. Training the dogs takes about two years and includes making sure that they don't chase sheep and other livestock.

Brian said: "It's tapping into their latent hunting ability.

"The main advantage is that they cover the area much quicker. They can pick up a scent from a quarter of a mile away."

Gel together

Pharmacy technician Josh Dunn has been involved with the team for about one-and-a-half years.

The 20-year-old did some service with the team as part of the Duke of Edinburgh project and he did a couple of exercises with them when he was the 'missing' person they were looking for.

He said: "It was great to see how they gelled together. It just made me want to get involved.

"I work with the equipment group and that is a little bit you are putting into the team, to make sure all the equipment is there and serviceable."