Mountain rescue team’s new £1m base is moving forward

Mountain rescue team’s new £1m base is moving forward

5 November 2025

WORK on the Mourne Mountain Rescue Team’s new £1m ultra-modern base and education centre in Newcastle is well underway.

The steel work is in place and the ground floor has been laid at the building under construction on land at Shanslieve Drive donated by supermarket giant Lidl.

Contractors are currently building the walls around the steel frame with hopes that the eco-friendly building could open next spring, marking the start of a new chapter in the rescue team’s history.

The new base is being constructed in the shadow of the Mourne Mountains, with the rescue team signing a 999-year lease for the site where building work is expected to take around 34 weeks to complete.

At the start of this year, the rescue team revealed that it had reached its goal of securing over £1m to build the new centre. Community fundraising has generated a phenomenal £750,000, while the Community Ownership Fund provided £500,000.

News of progress on the new building came after the rescue team was involved in a rigorous peer review process last weekend.

The detailed analysis review of its systems and processes was facilitated by external observers.

The review serves as the recognised stamp of capability, conformity and credibility for rescue teams across Ireland and beyond.

The peer review is a core requirement of team’s membership of Mountain Rescue Ireland and, by extension, the International Commission for Alpine Rescue (ICAR).

Locally, it underpins the rescue team’s affiliation with the NI Search and Rescue Forum and its tasking relationship with the PSNI.

The rescue team has extended its thanks to external observers Kevin Mitchell, from the Ochilis MRT (Scotland) and Gerry Christie from the Kerry MRT and the 25 team members who gave up their time to showcase the full range of its rescue capabilities.

Last week, a Downpatrick woman who sustained an injury while hiking in the mountains described her Mourne Mountain rescuers as “earth angels”.

The woman was part of group walking in the vicinity of Ben Crom reservoir last Saturday afternoon when she sustained a leg injury.

She was with a group of hikers being led by Wild Mountain NI which has also praised all the emergency services who responded to the incident.

The Mourne Mountain Rescue Team was alerted by the Ambulance Service to assist the woman who was among a number of hikers contouring along the side of the reservoir.

After the woman was located and treated for her injury and exposure to the elements, the rescue team volunteers prepared her for an evacuation by helicopter.

Meanwhile, long serving member Dave Goddard has volunteered to pull together an comprehensive history of the mountain rescue team and wants to hear from any former members, whose relatives were rescued or those who have a story to tell about the impact the team has had on the lives 

of loved ones or people they know.

Dave is the rescue team’s longest-serving member and has been affectionately described a “museum piece and intrinsic part of a team” which launched in 1962.

As it collates its history, the team is keen to hear from anyone who has ever been part of it, lent a hand, or even been on the receiving end of a rescue.