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Incidents since 01/01/1990

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Financing

Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team, like all other rescue teams in the country, receives no official funding. The members of the Cleveland Team must raise the £25,000 annual running costs themselves.

Where does the money go? Well we currently spend around £2,500 on administration and base running costs which includes electricity, rates, council tax etc. £4,000 is spent on communications equipment such as team phones, pagers, radios and I.T. equipment. £2,000 is spent on our specialist rescue equipment such as ropes and crag kit and different kinds of streachers and splints. £1,500 is spent purely on medical equipment, pain relieving and life-saving drugs. £4,000 is spent on insurance, £7,500 on transport and fuel, and last but not least £3,500 is spent on other things such as support and training.

Money comes in from a variety of sources:

As well as raising all of our annual running costs the team is currently running an appeal to raise money in order to renovate our team base. This is a major undertaking as the condition of the base means that the renovation will cost approximately £200,000. Please visit our Base Appeal page for more information on the condition of the base and how you can help.

The team is also looking at replacing our two Land Rover ambulances in the not too distant future. They are coming to an age where their reliability and cost effectiveness is being compromised and so the team is faced with spending up to £60,000 per vehicle as once we have bought them we then need to fit them out to our specialist needs. It can truly be said that the team needs the help of its supporters now more than ever.

Donations

Donations to the team come in all sizes from a variety of sources. People who we help often give us a donation and we often get donations left to us in wills or given to us in lieu of flowers. In many such cases we have no idea why the money has come in our direction, but we are grateful all the same.

Since the rescue team was established 35 years ago we have presented lectures on our activities to a variety of organization ranging from Women's Institutes to Boy Scouts and from Rotarians to Mountain bikers. We do not charge a fee as such for these talks but ask for a donation. These talks brought in over £700 during 2002.

Street Collections

Like many charities in the United Kingdom, Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team collects money on "Flag Days". A few years ago we set up a team of Fundraisers who were friends or family of Team members along with ex-members who wished to help support us. This group organize collections in various locations in our area and raise a few thousand pounds every year.

Collecting boxes in pubs etc

Around many of the pubs and cafes in our area are collecting boxes. Into these boxes go a few coppers of change donated by the many hill users that frequent them. Over a year these boxes collect a total of about £700.

Challenge events

In the early days of the Team the majority of the annual running cost was raised by a sponsored walk across the 42 mile long Lyke Wake Walk. This 24 hour event was jointly organized with our sister team, Scarborough Mountain Rescue Team. Every July 400 walkers used to complete this route on our behalf and raise thousands of pounds for the teams.

During the 1980s the environmental damage that was being caused by the thousands of walkers that attempted the Lyke Wake Walk caused us to look elsewhere for fundraising activities and the Cleveland Survival was born.

The Survival is a 23 mile navigational exercise held over a different part of the North York Moors every year in March. The 250 competitors pay an entry fee to take part. This usually raises over £1500 towards Team funds.

Following the success of the Survival members of the Team have also organize a challenge event to take place in the Summer, the Viking Chase. This event has passed through many incarnations and is at present a running event based at Carlton Bank on the North Western escarpment of the Moors.

Sponsored Walks

In recent years sponsored walks from some of the local pubs have become a major source of our income. The Whalebones Walk runs from the whale bones in Captain Cook's port of Whitby to the Clarendon public house in Marske some 20 or so miles to the North along the cliff top paths. The Allandale Hotel at nearby Skelton also take part and many thousands of pounds are raised for us and other local charities.

Grants from charitable trusts

During the year there are often some more expensive pieces of equipment that we need to obtain. In order to purchase these items, such as new Land overs, we ask for finance from some of the national charities. Recently the British Heart Foundation helped us obtain Defibulators for our front line Land Rover ambulances in this way.

Fundraising shop

Cleveland Search & Rescue team has launched a new online fundraising webshop.

We are asking all our supporters to shop online via our webshop and help raise money for us at no extra cost to yourself.

Over 100 retailers are accessible through the webshop, including Tesco, Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and Waterstones. Many retailers provide exclusive offers to the webshop, such as discounts or offering free delivery to the customer, providing more reasons for supporters to buy products through the webshop.

The webshop is straightforward to use and no technical knowledge is required. Shopping via this portal will raise funds with help from retailers such as Tesco who offer £5 for every new customer who makes a groceries transaction.

The webshop facility is such a simple but effective idea. We receive a commission on each purchase you make. Donating to our organisation couldn't be easier!

So why not try a little retail therapy and help us out at the same time.

Gift Aid Donations

Please visit our Just Giving site to make an online donation.