Mourne team funding boost

Mourne team funding boost

1 January 2025

THE Mourne Mountain Rescue Team has reached its £1m goal to build a dedicated new base and education centre in Newcastle.

Shortly before Christmas, the Community Ownership Fund announced the rescue team was to receive almost £540,000 in funding as part of a province-wide £3.6m 

investment package shared between 10 organisations.

Rescue team volunteers are delighted with the significant financial boost and are eager to see construction work start on the new base at the foothills of the Mournes.

It is hoped the new building, which will be carbon neutral, will be open by September.

Last year, the rescue team launched an appeal to raise £400,000 to help it reach the £1m target to build the new base on land at Shanslieve Drive, which has been donated by Supermarket giant Lidl.

The appeal sparked a huge public response and while the £1m target has been reached, the base’s final construction costs have yet to be 

confirmed.

The rescue team says continued financial support is “critical” and has thanked the public for its continued support and generosity over many, many years.

Announcing details of the financial support, the Community Ownership Fund said the Mourne Mountain Rescue Team ensures visitors to Northern Ireland’s iconic landscapes stay safe and are protected.

Rescue team volunteers work seamlessly with all arms of the emergency services and last year the organisation was presented with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.

Martin McMullan, the rescue team’s co-ordinator, is delighted the Community Ownership Fund grant application has been successful.

He explained the rescue team applied for the community grant — which was part of the so-called levelling up initiative — some time ago, with the application reaching the final stage before last year’s general election was called.

Applications were initially paused, leaving the rescue team in “complete limbo” and after several follow-ups seeking clarity, the rescue team was told the community fund was in review and then informed the application had been unsuccessful.

“We were informed a new grant scheme would open this month and we could reapply, which was disappointing as the effort involved is immense. If, for example, we had to wait until May to be told we had been successful it would be too late for our build,” Martin explained.

Mr McMullan said a few weeks ago an email arrived to ask if the project was still live, was funding still required and could all the project’s prerequisites and timeline be met.

“We were able to go straight back and answer ‘yes’ and were told we would be notified in due course if we were to be successful which was an interesting form or words. All this came completely out of the blue.

“We didn’t want to get our hopes up and then on the Friday before Christmas we were officially informed the application was successful, along with quite a few others from Northern Ireland.”

Mr McMullan said the rescue team is now at a point that it can build the new base without having to borrow money.

“We have quite a bit of work to do in the near future and we need to be on site as soon as possible and also go out to tender.

‘We already have a project team in place and most of the groundwork is underway in terms of planning which has been secured, but we still have to do some detailed work in terms of drawings. Once the tender goes out we hope to get a contractor on site,” he said.

Mr McMullan said one of the positives coming out of the project is that the funders wanted to see the rescue team doing something different with the structure, explaining the new base and education centre will be a carbon neutral building.

He said this ties in with what the rescue team is trying to do in sustaining the service into the future, making sure the building is energy efficient, using solar power and air source heat. 

“We are hopeful we will have a new building up by the summer and certainly September and the timescales we are working to are quite tight. It was in 2012 when we announced the new base project and 13 years later, all being well, it will be a reality,” he continued.

Mr McMullan also paid tribute to the community for its continued support.

“We simply could not do what we do without the  community. Even if we had secured the community funding, we could not build our new base if we did not have the £600,000 which the community has contributed over 12 years and continues to do so,” he said.

“It is the community which has kept us alive and we want to be sure that people don’t think we are all excited about the £500,000 grant but have forgotten about the £1, £10, £20 and £100 which people have contributed out of their pockets. That is not the case.”

Mr McMullan added: “The community has got us to the point we are at now, not the £500,000. It’s community contributions and its ongoing support that will keep the team in place now and going forward.”