Aberdeen Mountain Rescue Team is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and to mark the occasion a number of events are being planned across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire to give the public in Grampian an insight into the team's work in 2014 and to help raise vital funds for the charity.
Aberdeen Mountain Rescue Team
The first event is their annual sponsored 23 km walk from Glen Tanar Estate on Saturday 7th June. Places are still available for those who wish to join the walk or members of the public can sponsor people through Just Giving at www.justgiving.com/aberdeenmountainrescue/raisemoney. Every walker will get a free beanie hat, kindly sponsored by Shell. Also taking part will be SARDA Dogs Coby and Flynn, who along with their handlers work with the team and are a vital asset.
On Saturday 12th July the Team will be in Union Square, Aberdeen from 10am to 5pm to give the public an opportunity to meet the Team, ask any questions and see the sort of equipment and communications that they use – they will also have a number of pieces of equipment from the 1960s. On 11th September, Mark Beaumont, record-breaking long-distance Scottish cyclist, adventurer, broadcaster, documentary maker and author will give a talk, fresh from the Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton relay. On 1st November there will be a fundraising ceilidh at the Hilton Treetops, Aberdeen, with dancing to Ceol Mhor.
Although based in Westhill, Aberdeen Mountain Rescue Team’s area of operation covers all of the Grampian Region, including Deeside, Donside and the Cairngorms. Whilst the 35 members of the team give their time for free, each year the Aberdeen & St. John Mountain Rescue Association has to raise approximately £40,000 in order to pay for equipment and other running costs such as the equipment, communications, insurance, fuel, vehicles etc.
Whilst many call outs are rescuing hill walkers and climbers in the mountains, a large number of callouts involve searches for missing persons and these can be anywhere within the Grampian Region. So far this year the team have been involved in nine separate call outs with one being a multi-day search.
Every one of the Team members is a volunteer. They all have jobs, families and other requests on their time. However, they put everything to one side, once the call is made, to go out and help search for and rescue anyone that is missing or injured and needs assistance.
AMRT relies on donations and sponsorship from the public and businesses within their operational area.
Dawn MacKinnon, Chairman of the Aberdeen Mountain Rescue Association said: “Over 50 years many people owe their lives to the Team and Teams like ours who head to the hills, or glens or even remote parts of Aberdeenshire and the Grampians often in atrocious weather conditions. Whilst there has been many changes over the years in terms of equipment, and especially communications what has not changed is the willingness of volunteers to forfeit their time in order to help others. We really hope that the people of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire will come to see our exhibit and hear our talk, meet the Team members and also support our fundraising. “
Website: www.amrt.org.uk