Tayside Mountain Rescue - History
Tayside Mountain Rescue was formed in November 1976, as a result of a meeting of representatives from eight mountaineering, and hillwalking clubs based in Dundee. The meeting was held in 39 Clepington Road, Dundee, the residence of John Watson, the then treasurer of the Mountain Rescue Committee of Scotland. Others attending included William Batchelor, representing the National Cash Register Climbing Club, Alfie Ingram representing the Carn Dearg Mountaineering Club, and Tony Boffey representing the Ancrum Activities Centre, who chaired the meeting. The meeting was convened following the realisation that the provision of civilian mountain rescue in the counties of Perth, Kinross, and Angus, was inadequate, falling far short of that provided elsewhere in Scotland. This was due to the service being provided by members of local mountaineering clubs responding to call outs on a purely ad hoc basis, there being no formal organisation, or training. The inadequacy of the situation was highlighted by a search in 1976 for a couple missing in the Loch Esk area above Glen Doll, to which a large number of members of the public volunteered their services, resulting in what is believed to be the largest airlift undertaken on a mountain rescue in Britain, when over 150 people were transported from the Doll, Glen Clova to the search area by two RAF SAR Whirlwind helicopters based at Leuchars. Despite the large numbers, the missing persons were not found until two days later by a party of less than twenty, which included trained mountain rescue personnel. Thus the meeting of the club representatives was convened, the meeting agreeing that positive steps be taken to improve the civilian provision of mountain rescue in the counties of Perth, Kinross, and called a public meeting which was held in the Menzieshill Community Centre, Dundee, the meeting being chaired by Tony Boffey. There was a large turnout for the meeting, which agreed to the formation of a mountain rescue association, using other established mountain rescue associations as a model. The meeting further agreed to the name of Tayside Mountain Rescue Association, Tayside being the name of the region formed from the counties of Perth, Kinross, and Angus. Persons attending the meeting were then invited to proceed to two side rooms, and on the model of established mountain rescue associations, elected an Association Committee, and a Team Management Committee. Subsequently a constitution was drawn up, and Tayside Mountain Rescue Association was accepted as an affiliated member of the Mountain Rescue Committee of Scotland with approval of the Police. Over the years, large scale protracted searches similar to the Loch Esk incident which resulted in the formation of the organisation, remain an occasional feature in Tayside mountain rescue incident statistics. But despite having a primary operational area of almost 3000 square miles in which the summits of 52 Munros, numerous lower hills, and a large number of crags popular for climbing are found, the number of call outs remains relatively low at around 20 per annum, the bulk of these being to locate persons who have become temporarily dis-oriented, and of these a significant percentage are of the urban non mountaineering”variety. Most of the searches result in a “safe and well”outcome, unlike the accidents which come from a fall into one of the numerous gorges in Tayside. Regrettably, climbing accidents in the area also tend to have similar tragic consequences. The Team has two equipment resources, the base situated close to the Angus glens, probably the busiest hills in Tayside, and a sub-unit serving the western side of the region. Team vehicles consist of a Land Rover 110, and a LDV Convoy, both of which are fitted out with full lifesaving equipment. The organisation maintains a public profile through an ongoing programme of PR initiatives, which help to keep the finances healthy, these range from the more normal type of events such as talks to Clubs and Societies, Theatre evenings, Sponsored Walks, and the like, to the totally absurd - abseiling down a six storey building in a King Kong suit.