The new Land Rover is a replacement for a 12-year-old vehicle
An ancient chivalric charity provided a replacement vehicle for a team of Highland mountain rescuers.
Assynt Mountain Rescue Team received its new Land Rover in a ceremony in Inverness, where officials from the Order of St John handed over the ambulance, which is vital for the volunteer rescuers’ work.
St John Scotland provided the cash for a similar vehicle 12 years ago, but the old Land Rover was becoming expensive to run and the charity provided the funding for a replacement.
Sue Agnew, team leader of the Assynt Mountain Rescue Team, said: “We are extremely grateful to the Order of St John for its continuing support of Scottish mountain rescue. This generous funding is vital.
“We are all volunteers who, through Police Scotland, are available on-call to our community. Our old vehicle was becoming costly to keep running.
“This converted Land Rover is able to evacuate casualties by stretcher and we can now continue to provide a vital rural service when we are needed, any time, any day, any weather.”
The team covers a large area in Sutherland and Caithness, from its base at Inchnadamph in Assynt, and with a mobile unit in Thurso.
The original Defender was the first of many handed over to the mountain rescue teams based throughout Scotland.
Having seen more than a decade of service, involving rescuing many walkers and climbers, the fleet of vehicles is coming to the end of useful life. The Order of St John continues to help fund replacement vehicles to mountain rescue teams throughout Scotland.
Bob Fullerton, the Highland chairman of St John Scotland, said: “It is with great pleasure that St John Scotland is continuing its support of Scottish mountain rescue.
“In not only assisting financially in supplying new vehicles, but also, the replacement of those vehicles which have provided a sterling service over the last 12 or more years, St John Highland is only too aware of the value of this voluntary service and is happy to be involved.”
The volunteer team was formed in 1976 following a number of incidents in the area and was the first to receive a Land Rover Defender in 1998 through St John funding.
The Order of St John, which has a history of 900 years of service to mankind, is a major charity funder in Scotland and is a Christian Order of chivalry.
Since 1997 St John Scotland’s main project has been a rolling programme to fund vehicles and bases for Scotland’s 24 mountain rescue teams. To date it has invested about £3.5m.
