Glenelg Mountain Rescue: 50 Years of Community, Commitment, and Courage
Glenelg Mountain Rescue: 50 Years of Community, Commitment, and Courage
Glenelg Mountain Rescue Team has served the rugged landscape of the west coast, across from the Isle of Skye, for over 50 years.
Here, team secretary, Jo Crawford, explores the team’s rich history, the community’s unwavering support, and ongoing efforts to enhance their lifesaving capabilities in one of Scotland’s most remote regions.
Jo writes:
The Glenelg Mountain Rescue Association was originally established in 1973 by the late Dr Catherine MacInnes (the then local G.P.) to cover the Parish of Glenelg. It completed its registration as a charity in 1974.
Our patch takes in the Glenelg peninsula jutting into Loch Duich, then heads east as far as the south side of the Saddle, taking in Arnisdale, and stretching as far south as Loch Morar, covering Kinlochourn, Barrisdale and Knoydart, an area of approximately 550 square kilometres. Some of the Knoydart peninsula is also covered by our colleagues in the Lochaber MRT because it is such a remote and complex piece of ground.
The team was originally made up of shepherds, stalkers, forestry workers, a doctor and people who generally worked outdoors. This is still the case but with a mix of mountaineers, rope access workers, boat masters and various other professions. There are normally 20 to 30 members on the team which is a very large percentage of the community considering the local area has a population of less than 300. Our volunteers know the area really well and have intimate knowledge of the mountains and glens we cover.
Last year the team celebrated 50 years, with special recognition going to Johnny Cameron, who has been a member of the team since the beginning and continues to be so to this day.
The team has established good relationships with the neighbouring teams of Kintail, Skye and Lochaber, often supporting each other on protracted call-outs.
We have regular training exercises with SAR and RNLI which contribute to the speed and effectiveness of responses in an area bordered by the Atlantic and numerous loch inlets as well as challenging mountain ranges.
The team has successfully shared the work load amongst the volunteer members with a committee of office bearers including: Medical, Communications, Training, Equipment, Vehicle, H&S and Helicopter Liaison Officers. We train locally twice a month and share regular training opportunities with Kintail which has helped to develop a close working relationship with them.
The team is currently looking to build a permanent base in the local area. The need for a fit for purpose base to safely house the MRT Land Rover, equipment and administration has long been recognised and has become more essential than ever in recent times. Developments in search and rescue technology, drone equipment and digital mapping systems require specific storage conditions which the team do not have at present. Much equipment is currently stored in member’s homes. We have ring fenced grant funding and some of the donations from members of the public to pursue this aim. Finding a suitable plot continues to be problematic – but we continue the search, optimistically.
The Glenelg community and MRT work well together as a team; in fact, a large percentage of our team work together in the local fire service as well. In our local area, where the mobile signal can be patchy, we tend to know where folk are because we communicate effectively together and as a result can muster a team for a call out fairly rapidly.
In recent years, a short video (Men of the Glen – Glenelg Mountain Rescue Team) was made about our team in response to Glenelg MRT being awarded Emergency Services Hero of the Year 2019 at the Highland Heroes Awards. The awards recognise people throughout the Highlands who make a real difference to their communities, and we were justly proud of the acknowledgement.
