Distinguished Service Award for Tom Gilchrist
Distinguished Service Award for Tom Gilchrist
SARDA Scotland presented Tom Gilchrist with a Distinguished Service Award this weekend for his outstanding contribution over 50 years with Mountain Rescue.
Tom Gilchrist attended his first call-out with Ochils MRT on 17 April 1973. His father was a founding member of the team and Tom joined the Ochils mountaineering club, aged 15, which was where the team drew much of its membership from. He formally joined the team in 1977. Tom was with the team for a few years before his life journey took him away from the area. Working at Loch Eil Outward Bound, Tom joined Lochaber MRT in 1993.
Tom has spent time leading and reconnoitering expeditions around the world. His experience as an avalanche observer for SAIS was put to good use as an inaugural member of the SMR avalanche working group and key instructor on the SMR avalanche courses.
(Image: Tom (right) being presented with his DSA by Stu McIntyre, Training Officer at SARDA Scotland)
Tom initially came to SARDA as a journalist to cover a story. He very quickly saw the benefits of search dogs and returned the next year as a potential handler, qualifying Orna in 1995 and winning the Madras Trophy to boot.
His knowledge and skills of using and training search dogs meant that Tom was quickly invited to be a trainer/ assessor in SARDA Scotland, a post he still holds today. Tom has gone on to qualify two more dogs, Tara in 2007 and Meagaidh in 2016.
He has been a valued member of the training and assessing team for many years. This commitment means attending both days of the monthly training weekend at venues across Scotland and the 4 day annual assessment. In addition, he has attended assessments as an external assessor to some of our sister organisations across Britain and Ireland. Tom has also spent time travelling to Norway to review their search dog processes.
(Image: SARDA in Norway, 2018)
He recently took over puppy school and has been key in progressing the way new handlers are trained, as well as giving up much of his own time outside of training weekends to lead local training sessions for the Lochaber and Glencoe trainees.
Recently, Tom has developed a mobile remote odour distribution module (RODM) which will be of huge benefit in the training of search dogs for human remains, water searches and avalanche work. The device was designed originally by Neil Powell, an extremely experienced dog trainer and handler from Northern Ireland. Tom has collaborated with Neil to advance the technology and mobility of the device. Tom has applied for a social patent for the device.
Tom has been involved with a number of TV productions promoting search dogs, including ’10 puppies and us’, but it will probably be his role in a production for CBeebies called “Dog Squad” with Meagaidh, which stands out the most. The programme highlighted the important roles dogs can play in everyday lives. This has gone a long way to raise the profile of mountain rescue with viewers, young and old, demonstrating what’s involved in mountain rescue and search dogs in particular.
(Image: Search and rescue dog Meagaidh, trained by Tom in 2016)
In his 28 years as an operational handler with SARDA Scotland, Tom has attended call-outs all over Scotland and has been involved with many of the significant searches in the Lochaber/ Glencoe area. A member of Lochaber MRT for over 30 years, Tom has lost count of how many call-outs he has attended – he thinks about six or seven hundred!
It is over 50 years since Tom was first involved with Mountain Rescue and he continues to be at the forefront of training and progressing the search and rescue dogs.
On behalf of everyone at Scottish Mountain Rescue and the independent mountain rescue teams of Lochaber and Glencoe, we’d like to say a massive thank you to Tom for his incredible contribution to mountain rescue in Scotland.
