History of the Glencoe Mountain Rescue Centre
Glencoe Mountain Rescue was formed in 1961 
and for many years the team's equipment and vehicles were stored around the village in volunteers’ houses, so the current Rescue Centre was a big step forward and was officially opened in 1999. At this time the team responded to around 35 callouts a year and it would have been hard to imagine how the number of rescues would increase and the amount of rescue equipment would grow in the subsequent 25 years. In 2023 alone we attended over 90 rescues and it is no surprise that we have outgrown the building that has served us so well for the last quarter century. So the time is right for us to extend our Rescue Centre.
The new Rescue Centre
The proposed expansion will include a new garage allowing us to have all of our vehicles easily available in an emergency, including those kept on trailers such as our boat and quad bikes. At present, our vehicles and trailers are packed so tightly in that they need to be “shuffled” before being deployed. The main garage will also be extended to make more room for our larger modern vans - the current doors being only an inch wider than our wing mirrors! The main training and meeting space will be moved into a newly formed 1st-floor space this will allow us to have the entire team of 35 present for essential training and will also accommodate the 50+ rescuers for briefings during large-scale multi-agency searches. As we see more complex and longer rescues we also have more families visiting the centre and the extension will have a separate quiet and private space where we can speak with friends and family, both during and after a rescue, away from the operational areas of the building. With the increased use of technology, most notably drones, that work best when stored in a warm and dry space. So the extension will include an area on the ground floor allowing us to have a dedicated space for drones as well as other equipment such as medical supplies, ropes, stretchers and provisions for team and casualties alike. This new storage space will be directly accessible from all of the garages saving valuable time in loading, unloading and deployment.
How you can help
We believe this extension will improve the service that we can provide and best serve all who enjoy our hills for the next 25 years or more. The layout and build process has also been designed specifically to allow us to remain fully operational throughout construction. This will obviously cost a lot of money, but we are fortunate as we can meet a significant amount of this from our current funds thanks to the generosity of people who have donated to date. However, we still need to raise a further £100,000 to complete the project and this is where we need your help.
Thank you, GMR