Tayside Mountain Rescue have launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for a new mobile command vehicle.
The mountain rescue team, comprised entirely of volunteers, is hoping to raise £10,000 to buy a “vital” state of the art command vehicle.
Tayside Mountain Rescue do receive some government funding, but the money they are given barely maintains running costs.
Buying the vehicle would allow the mountain rescue team to conduct their operations from the field, which would be particularly useful according to deputy team leader Paul Russell.
Paul notes Tayside’s “huge” area of 3000 square miles makes commanding a search and rescue mission from a static base difficult.
Fifty of Scotland’s 282 Munros are situated in Tayside, and when the mountain rescue team are called in to action, being able to command the search from the location they are looking in could save valuable time.
“Tayside is an absolutely huge area to cover and having a state of the art command vehicle would make operations run more effectively,” said Paul.
“With a mobile command vehicle, we can lead search operations from the location we are in.
“Using the state of the art technology such as GPS, future operations will be able to be conducted more quickly.
“As a search and rescue team, we help everyone. We provide a service for everyone and we provide it because it is something we feel very strongly about.
“We receive a small amount of funding from the government, but it doesn’t really cover costs. We have been very lucky to receive funding from the Nicoll Charitable Foundation and our official sponsors.
“The campaign to buy a new mobile command vehicle is our biggest fundraising project to date.”
Online and personal donations topped £3,250 at the last count and there is just over a month left until the online appeal closes.
If you would like to donate toward the campaign, you can do so by visiting justgiving.com/crowdfunding/taysidemrt .
