The leader of Tayside Mountain Rescue team says he has been “humbled” by the public’s support for its bid to buy two new Landrovers.
Stuart Johnston and his team are aiming to raise £30,000 and have almost reached the halfway point just days after the appeal was launched.
The cash will help them replace their current ageing vehicles.
Stuart said: “We are delighted with the level of public response. It shows how much support we have within the community in Tayside.
“It’s amazing – you can never tell how fundraising is going to go from one day to the next but we are incredibly grateful to the media and the public for getting behind us.
“It really is quite humbling – the people of Tayside and our area have been incredibly generous in supporting the work the volunteers do out there.”
He said the vehicles were so important to the team’s work that members had decided to go out to the public for help.
“Money in the bank doesn’t save lives, which is why when we have a project that requires fundraising we always donate all the money to that project,” he said.
“The team is not wealthy – we have to keep an element of money for annual overheads, which is why we need help for these projects which will last us for quite some time.
“We are hopeful that the money that we need will be reached quite shortly.”
Once purchased, the Landrovers will be specially kitted out to meet the team’s needs.
Stuart said: “When we buy a new vehicle we have to spend quite a bit of time thinking about how the vehicle has to be refitted – we have to take things out and reshape some of the specific storage space so we can retrieve things quickly when we respond to an incident.
“The vehicle has to be well thought through in how we use the space.”
As well as search and rescue missions, Tayside Mountain Rescue Association provides training and equipment for team members.
Made up entirely of volunteers who live in the operational area, the Tayside Mountain Rescue Team includes people from a wide range of professions and backgrounds.
Each team member is also a skilled and experienced mountaineer, with a range of training.
Donations to the Replacement Vehicle Project 2019 can be made here.
