Mountain rescue team take ownership of base
Ownership of an east Perthshire rescue hub has been transferred into the hands of the team based there.
Previously, Tayside Mountain Rescue had free use of its Blairgowrie base under licence from the charity St John Scotland.
It provides 14 mountain rescue bases to teams all across the country, at a cost of £2 million.
However, late last week, ownership of the Welton Road base was transferred to the town’s mountain rescue team members.
It is the fourth base St John Scotland has handed to mountain rescue teams.
The Blairgowrie team is the third busiest mountain rescue squad in Scotland, and is supported by more than 30 volunteer mountaineers, who work around the clock to help save those missing or seriously injured in the region’s mountains and moorlands.
This comes at the same time Tayside Mountain Rescue has taken over the reins of its base in Blairgowrie
as the mountain rescue team has unveiled its new command vehicle, with the help of a £20,000 grant from St John Scotland.
Stuart Johnston, Tayside Mountain Rescue’s team leader, said: “We are especially delighted to be working in partnership with
St John Scotland - their support to the emergency services is legendary.
“Our special relationship not only provides us with muchneeded resources, such as our new team training base and incident command vehicle, but vastly increases our resources and visibility that enables Tayside mountain rescue to be a world-class emergency service.
“It’s a huge privilege for all team members to serve the public and visitors in Tayside and contribute massively to the emergency service sector.
“The gifting of a new team base by St John Scotland supports our team members’ training and call out operations - we are extremely grateful for St John Scotland’s support.”
A spokesperson for the charity added: “We are delighted to be able to gift the Tayside base to the team. However, this will not be the end of our relationship and we look forward to maintaining and strengthening our existing links with the team.”
Now that the mountain rescue team officially own the Tayside base, it will become known as ‘Tayside Mountain Rescue Team, St John Base’.
It’s a huge privilege for all team members to serve the public and visitors in Tayside