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.