It will be a big year for Oban Mountain Rescue Team when the volunteers celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2020.
Plans are underway for a celebratory dinner and a fundraising event which will involve the local community.
The fundraising committee has been asked to come up with ideas for a special anniversary fundraising event which will take place in the summer.
Ross Lilley, chairman of the team, said: “The current team and volunteers from throughout that period will get together and reminisce about what we have achieved.
“We fundraise throughout the year, providing marshalling services at hill races and the Mountain Bike World Cup in Fort William.”
The team was formed at the beginning of the financial year in 2000 at the request of Strathclyde Police. The force had and still has its own mountain rescue team, made up of officers mainly based around Glasgow.
Mr Lilley said: “The police were looking for a team to be formed in the Oban area, because they were having to come all the way up from Glasgow to do rescues on Ben Cruachan and the Bridge of Orchy hills.
“They approached the mountaineering club in Oban at the time. They put a constitution together and the team was formed.
“The team is mainly made up of people who go to the hills and appreciate the need for the life-saving service that mountain rescue provides.
“People who we rescue are normally quite competent, it is just that sometimes things go wrong and they need our help.”
Running the team costs about £50,000 a year. Roughly half of that comes from Scottish Mountain Rescue which raises funds nationally on behalf of the Scottish organisations.
The rest is raised by grateful people the team has rescued and by the team members marshalling at events such as Craggy Island Triathlon, the Paps of Jura hill race and the Mountain Bike World Cup.
Currently, there are plans to purchase two new vehicles and build a mountain rescue post to house a vehicle at Taynuilt. The post is expected to cost around £30,000.
The team is always looking for new members and fundraising volunteers. To help, email info@Obanmrt.co.uk or message the team’s Facebook page.
