Highland mountain rescuers get medals for combined 227 years’ voluntary service
Mountain rescuers were given royal recognition of an astonishing 227 years of combined service at a ceremony in December.
Members of Kintail Mountain Rescue Team from Wester Ross, Inverness and Skye were presented with their King’s Coronation Medals by the Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Ross and Cromarty, Andy Townsend, following their monthly training session.
The medals were awarded to eight team members with at least five years of service volunteering for mountain rescue at the time of King Charles III’s coronation in 2023.
But some of the long-standing rescuers had amassed several decades of service, including one with over 40 years dedicated to helping others in the mountains of Kintail, Glen Affric and beyond.
Bruce Taylor joined the Kintail team in 1983, and was followed in 1988 by Willie Fraser, Jim Fraser and Morris Macleod, who each have 36 years of service.
Neil Ross, one of three serving or previous team leaders to receive a medal, has 23 years’ service having joined in 2001, while Search and Rescue Dog Association members Alasdair Earnshaw (22 years) and Paul Meikle (16 years) have been part of the team along with their trained animals.
Current team leader Lara Hinde joined in 2007 and got her medal after 17 years with Kintail MRT.
Lara said: “We really appreciated having Mr Townsend here to help us recognise the achievements of these volunteers; between them they have put in an amazing 227 years of service to mountain rescue in Kintail.
“I think that's a remarkable achievement. Amongst those eight people, we've got a team leader, two former team leaders, two former SARDA dog owners, and two current SARDA members, and someone in Jim who's done an awful lot of stuff for Scottish Mountain Rescue that I don’t really understand, in addition to being a team member, so there's a lot of extra work that's gone in, and that's not counting the dog years.”
Mr Townsend was delighted to be representing the Crown to present the medals personally to five of the eight “thoroughly deserving and dedicated volunteers” who were present on the day.
“These selfless volunteers are on call 24/7 every day of the year, heading out into the hills whatever the weather to ensure the safety of others,” he said.
“My background was in the military, and then later in life I was in the civilian police, and I was lucky enough to receive a couple of similar medals, but mine used to arrive in an envelope in the internal dispatch, which I always thought was a huge shame.
“It didn't really give the significance as to what these medals are, and what I would say to you all is that they are recognition for your work, for your volunteering, and more importantly, they are true recognition to your families.
“You should share these medals with your families, because it's your families that do without you when you get the call, when you come out to training. You truly are the fourth emergency service.”
Kintail MRT is based at Morvich in Wester Ross and covers a huge geographic area, including Glen Affric, that incorporates 39 Munros and many other significant hills and mountains. The team is made up entirely of volunteers and relies on public donations to fund its work.
Donations can be made to the team at: https://donate.justgiving.com/charity/kintailmrt