Dublin Wicklow Mountain Rescue wins Lotto award
THE Dublin/Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team has scooped a National Lottery Good Cause Award for its work keeping people who climb mountains safe.
The group of 60 committed DWMRT volunteers won the sport and recreation category in the inaugural awards which took place in Dublin on Saturday.
The rescue team received €10,000 in prize money to go back into the service.
The new awards are aimed at honouring the extraordinary work impacting on communities all over Ireland thanks to National Lottery Good Causes funding.
There were 36 finalists from all over Ireland at the dinner, with the awards ceremony hosted by TV presenter Karen Koster. The awards will be shown on Virgin Media next Sunday, November 11, at 9.30 p.m.
Bray Cardiac First Responders were also finalists at the awards at the weekend. They congratulated Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Ireland for their win in the Health & Wellbeing section, as well as their neighbours Dublin/Wicklow Mountain Rescue for winning their section.
‘It was a wonderful experience seeing the great work done by so many voluntary groups across the country and continued success to every one of them – we are all winners and its proof of the power of volunteering in Ireland,’ said a spokesman for Bray CFR.
The Dublin/Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team is on standby 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. From responding to one or two incidents a year when it first established, last year it dealt with more than one call-out a week. And this year it is on course to exceed that figure.
The service responds to all sorts of incidents whether lost walkers, those who sustain injury or medical emergencies such as cardiac arrest.
The benefit of National Lottery Good Causes funding on the service has been immense. Over the years it has helped DWMRT buy vital medical equipment but most recently funded the first mountain rescue stretcher capable vehicle in Ireland, reduced the amount of time an injured or ill patient has to be manually carried over uneven terrain.
When Storm Emma hit this year, DWMRT did 28 medical emergency call outs to people inaccessible due to the snow. In October the DWMRT was called to four different incidents on one Saturday alone. It assisted a hillwalker who had collapsed in Fraughan Rock Glen while climbing Lugnaquilla; responded to an injured mountain biker; helped a climber in Glendalough who fell about 30 metres and a paraglider who sustained multiple injuries on the great Sugarloaf.
National Lottery CEO, Dermot Griffin, congratulated the Dublin/Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team on winning its prize. ‘ These committed volunteers risk their own lives to ensure walkers and mountaineers can be safe.
‘It is fitting that Ireland’s unsung heroes who work quietly under the radar to improve lives and make a difference are honoured in these inaugural National Lottery Good Cause Awards. Their work often goes unrecognised – but it is so valued.’
St Catherine’s Grief Centre in Limerick was the overall winner.