Mourne Mountain Rescue Team guest for fundraiser

Mourne Mountain Rescue Team guest for fundraiser

11 December 2024

DETAILS of another major fundraiser have been announced for the Mourne Mountain Rescue Team.

Earlier this year, the rescue team launched an appeal to secure the £400,000 it needs to build a £1m ultra-modern base adjacent to a new Lidl store at Shanslieve Drive in Newcastle.

The team — which has £600,000 in the bank — has secured £80,000 in donations to date, with further pledges of an additional £10,000.

The next fundraiser takes place on February 20 at the Burrendale Hotel when one of Britain’s most respected and inspirational mountaineers, Mick Fowler, will be the guest.

Mick will be treating the audience to a journey of his climbing partnership with Victor Saunders which has lasted for 40 years.

Also included in his presentation will be his recent ascent of Yawash Sar in Pakistan and many of his other first ascents.

During the evening, members of the mountain rescue team will provide the audience with an insight into its work and a progress report on the new base campaign and there will also be a raffle on the night.

As a result of the cost of the mountain rescue team’s ultra-modern regional facility at the foot of the mountains rocketing to £1m, it has left the team needing £400,000 to add to the money it has in the bank to deliver it.

Originally, the cost of the new base was £650,000, but due to significant increases in construction costs, the price has almost doubled.

To compound the current difficulty the highly acclaimed rescue team finds itself in, two grants worth £1m were lost as delays in securing planning permission for the site owned by supermarket giant Lidl meant the deadline for spending the money was missed.

In the summer, the rescue team reached out to the public to raise the money it needs to leave the charity debt free and able to focus on delivering its highly regarded rescue service.

Within days of the online appeal going live, several thousands pounds was raised by the organisation’s social media followers, with the rescue team overwhelmed with the public support for its campaign.

Lidl is developing a new store at the site of the former St Mary’s Girls’ Primary School in the town and has donated ground to allow the rescue team to finally have a dedicated new centre.

Bulldozers are currently on site razing the former school to the ground ahead of construction work getting underway with the rescue team updating the level of public donations in response to its major ‘get us home’ fundraising campaign.

The rescue team said it continues to be “blown away” by the level of public support for the appeal and that every single donation edges it towards its £400,000 goal.

Rescue team members say a ticket for the February 20 fundraiser would make a great Christmas present or a stocking filler for the outdoors person in people’s lives.

Only a limited number of tickets are available for the event which starts at 7.30pm. Tickets priced  £20 for adults and £12.50 for those under 18 and students are available by logging on at https://www.mournemrt.org/pioneering-pensioners/ and anyone who wants to donate to the fundraising campaign can do so at https://www.mournemrt.org/donate/