Search and rescue teams are now more likely to be scouring urban areas for missing people rather than combing the fells for injured walkers. Emily Flanagan joins the volunteers.

IVY Johnson had been locked in the school grounds for 13 hours on a freezing January morning when she was eventually found, confused, injured and cold. The 57-year-old had suffered a stroke and, in her confused state, wandered from her home and into the grounds of a nearby school, where she hurt her foot.

When her daughter Angela realised her mother was missing, and with her concern mounting as temperatures dropped below freezing, she raised the alarm. Four hours later, volunteer search and rescue teams found Ivy, close to her home in Langley Park, near Durham.

For Angela, the tears of relief at her mother's safe reappearance mingled with gratitude for the team who ended the family's anxiety. "When we got to the hospital I saw two men walking out and my dad said: 'That must be the search and rescue', so I went running after them. They looked a bit shocked to see me racing after them, but I wanted to tell them I couldn't thank them enough."

This kind of story is the bread and butter of Teesdale and Weardale Search and Rescue, an assortment of teachers, health workers, accountants and parents who give up their time to track down people who have gone missing - through choice or accident.

The volunteers still respond to emergency call-outs to rescue injured walkers after they have been summoned via their pagers. But, according to the team, walkers are becoming increasingly knowledgeable and careful, arming themselves with the correct equipment and becoming more educated on survival and safety. These days, police are increasingly calling on the help of the search and rescue teams to look for people reported missing in urban areas.

It was one such emergency that brought the band of helpers together at 9am on a rainy Sunday morning in March to help find former miner Edward Donnelly, 52, who went missing from the home he shares with his sister in Sacriston.

Chester-le-Street Police Sergeant Rob Pollard briefs the searchers in the car park of Durham police headquarters, giving a description of Mr Donnelly and where he was last seen, telling them even a cigarette packet could provide a clue to his whereabouts.

Sgt Pollard has been involved in the police investigation into Edward Donnelly's disappearance and was shadowing the rescue van in case any evidence came up. Police called in the volunteers after their own search revealed nothing.

He says: "I've been liaising with the family, trying to build up a picture of Eddie's life, where he might go and where we might find him. The search and rescue team are very good at profiling someone and identifying areas to look. They've got a lot of experience of searching land for missing people and are increasingly being called upon to do urban searches."

The rescuers hone down their investigation by using a Lost Person Behaviour list that pinpoints the most likely behaviour of the type of person they are looking for. A child between one and six years old is most likely to find a place to sleep and lie down under a tree or rock, while someone with Alzheimer's disease is most likely to follow a road and then head off across open land and possibly get entangled in briars or undergrowth.

The behaviour is ranked in order of the most likely scenario and is based on information corroborated from hundreds of cases collected in America. A system more suited to this country's terrain is being compiled by a search and rescue team in Penrith, Cumbria.

Teacher Alan Best is heading the day's operation from the communications van. He says: "The search is very evidence based, something we've done over the last ten years. This started on the fells and we've developed a system of searching on the fells which we've adapted for urban areas. It's based on 'where was he last seen?'

"We try and come up with some kind of scenario like, 'have they gone off to do some harm to themselves? Or have they had an accident in the open ground?'"

The volunteers disperse in groups to search different areas around Sacriston, including two canoeists who scour the river while the nerve centre of the operation - the communications van - keeps track of them via radio from a hill-top vantage point.

Alan mans the radio while accountant David Clark keeps track of the ground with a map on which he draws the areas covered. Chris Scott keys in information, such as items found and areas covered, into a lap-top, using a computer programme he devised with the help of his son. This is partly done in case a body is found and evidence has to be given to a coroner. Alan says: "Sadly, the nature of this job is such that you often find bodies and we have to keep very clear records for the inquest."

Unfortunately, nothing was found and, after several days searching, there have been no new sightings of Edward Donnelly. There are no more searches planned until police receive fresh information about his disappearance.

Sgt Pollard says: "We're just waiting for new information to come in, to give the volunteers a new search pattern. They're there and willing to help, but, at the minute, they've done pretty much all they can."

Alan explains this is not a typical search - usually they find someone within three hours. But despite the disheartening results, the volunteers recognise it is part of their job.

He says: "We can be called out 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. We all have pressure in our everyday lives, but we come together as a team with a common purpose."

The search and rescue team needs to raise £10,000 a year to keep going. Anyone who would like to help with fundraising can contact them on (01833) 630999.