Acclaimed mountaineer Dawson set to speak at rescue team fundraiser

Acclaimed mountaineer Dawson set to speak at rescue team fundraiser

9 October 2024

THE Mourne Mountain Rescue Team’s fundraising campaign for its planned new base continues next week with two talks by revered mountaineer Dawson Stelfox.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first Irish ascent of Mount Everest, Dawson – who led the 1993 Everest expedition – will be speaking at the Tollymore National Outdoor Centre on October 18 at 7.30pm.

His talks are entitled Six Great Alpine North Faces and The Northern Ridge of Everest.

Rescue team volunteers are pleased with the public’s response to the appeal to secure the key funding required to finance the cost of the new base at the foothills of the Mournes.

The cost of the ultra-modern regional facility in Newcastle has rocketed to £1m, leaving the rescue team needing £400,000 to deliver it.

Originally, the cost of the new base on land at Shanslieve Drive in the resort 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.

The rescue team has 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.

The appeal for public support was launched earlier this year with the rescue team explaining it has 30,000 followers and if everyone donated £13.33 the £400,000 would be raised.

Twelve years ago — when the rescue team celebrated its 50th anniversary — it identified one of the key challenges it faced was the lack of a fit for purpose base and set itself the target of finding a new home.

Lidl stepped forward with the offer of a site adjacent to its planned new store with planning approval applied for in 2017. Objections to the store proposal and Covid further delayed the project.

With £600,000 in the bank courtesy of donations and the efforts of fundraisers over the past 12 years and formal planning approval now in place, the rescue team’s focus is on raising the £400,000 needed to allow construction work to start.

Rescue team officials say with a real opportunity to get on-site in the not-too-distant future, they need public support to help them plug the funding shortfall.

The preferred option is to raise the funds to complete the build without burdening the team with a significant debt, but the rescue team may have to look at alternative options including securing a loan. 

Volunteers are delighted that people are being generous and donations have come in to boost the base fund with many fundraising efforts continuing.

The main drive is on raising all the £400,000 required to build the base as planned to leave the charity debt free and ensure the money would not have to be borrowed.

In the meantime, the rescue team is continuing to focus its efforts on providing its highly professional rescue service as it workload continues to increase.

Tickets, costing £20 for the October 18 Dawson Stelfox event, can be booked at https://www.mournemrt.org/the-magnetic-north/ with those who log on asked to print off their order confirmation or bring along a digital copy of the email receipt on the night.

To make a donation to the appeal visit  https://www.mournemrt.org/donate/