Peak Rescue Team's Income Falls

Buxton Mountain Rescue Team has seen its income fall by 16% in 2009 over 2008 with the team increasingly reliant on small scale local support as bigger charitable trusts and foundations feel the bite of recession.

Almost ten per-cent of the team's annual income comes from a network of counter-top collection boxes with donations via the web site also increasing. On top of that, team members devote an increasing amount of time to street collections and similar fund-raising activities.

To give you an idea of team costs, last year the team spent over £43,000, with £17,000 of that going on 'the basic general costs of maintaining the rescue service'. On top of that, the additional £25,000 went on upgrades including 30 new radios, 50 helmets and 50 search lights. Team administration, they say, accounts for just 1 per-cent of annual income.

One major issue for MRTs, is that there is no VAT exemption on their purchases, so  around £5,000 went to the tax man.

Funding Dilemma...

The funding of Mountain Rescue has always been a controversial issue. Traditionally MRTs are voluntary organisations with team members giving their time to help fellow outdoors people, but recently rescues seem to be on the up and teams are reliant on public donations to keep operating.

On top of that, a lot of outdoor companies support rescue teams directly with special deals on clothing and equipment. Then there's Montane's innovative new Limited Edition £50,000 MRT promotion based on sales of special range of one-off clothing with the entire margin on each garment going to Mountain Rescue England & Wales.

Or you can donate directly by joining BaseCamp the National Supporters' Group for Mountain Rescue for £24 a year with proceeds going to support all mountain rescue teams in England and Wales.

One Off Payment

Finally, local Derbyshire MP, Tom Levitt has written to the Police minister asking for a one-off payment to mountain rescue organisations to compensate for the time and effort put into non-traditional activies in the recent winter weather including rescuing stranded motorists and, in one case, ferrying a pregnant woman to hospital.

According to one estimate on the Buxton MRT site, so far in 2010, just 10% of Peak District call-outs have been for incidents in the hills.

Thought-provoking stuff. More information at www.buxtonmountainrescue.org.uk