Cash avalanche for snow heroes

Mick Nield, OMRT’s leader, far left, with David MacDougall, the table’s community services officer, and other table and rescue team members at the £5,000 cheque presentation

THE heroes of the snows have received a mammoth cash windfall.

Members of Saddleworth Round Table have handed over £5,000, the biggest donation in the club’s history, to Oldham Mountain Rescue Team for their valiant efforts during horrendous winter weather.

And Saddleworth Rotary club has made a further £2,000 donation to the team’s funds.

The 50-strong team of volunteers attended 123 incidents — a record number — last year.

And in January, at the height of blizzards and working in sub-zero temperatures, they turned out another 55 times working round the clock supporting emergency services and saving injured or stranded villagers and other people across the borough.

Dave MacDougall, the table’s community services officer, who presented the cheque to members of OMRT, said: “The volunteers are all truly remarkable people.

“They worked tirelessly in support of emergency services to ensure people were kept safe in the worst weather conditions for more than 30 years.

“OMRT’s efforts were both truly inspirational and humbling. And table members had no hesitation in donating the £5,000 as a mark of our communities’ appreciation for their unsung efforts.”

To help further, Phil Woolas, MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth is joining other MPs in a fight asking the Chancellor to re-examine assistance to volunteer rescue services with an equitable tax system.

Mountain rescue teams across England and Wales have to pay VAT on equipment and winter clothing used in their work while the Scottish government donates £300,000 a year to be spread across their teams.

Mr Woolas said: “I am seeking help for all these ‘blue light’ services who work so hard for our communities.”

Among the Oldham team’s heroics was helping rush a pregnant woman to hospital for safe delivery of her baby, saving a family stranded with a young baby in snows and the rescue of a woman in an isolated field who had been kicked by a horse and seriously injured.

OMRT has launched an appeal to replace both their ageing Land Rover ambulance vehicles at a cost of £40,000 each, fully equipped.

And to help support their efforts, you can use several methods to support them:

n If you use Easy Search as your primary search engine (instead of Google for example) they’ll receive a small donation every time you click on.

n Make your internet purchasing through the team’s internet portal: www.easyfundraising.org.uk/omrt  

Registration is free and when you purchase anything from many household names, OMRT will receive a donation.


Alternatively, visit: www.justgiving.com/oldham-mrt  which shows a variety of ways to donate, or go to the team’s Facebook page and forward this link to your friends, relatives and colleagues, www.facebook.com/OldhamMRT