Site donated for Mourne Mountain Rescue new base

By Iveren McCallion

Plans for a new state-of-the-art 'Rescue Centre' for Mourne Mountain Rescue are a step closer after land was donated to them.

The coveted site in Tullybrannigan was bought by Lidl after a bidding war with the council who wanted to develop a leisure centre there.

But the budget supermarket chain has given a huge chunk of it to the rescue team who've been campaigning for a new base since 2012.

A proposed new supermarket is also planned to be built on the site.

Speaking at the announcement, chair of Mourne Mountain Rescue Team, Dave Goddard said, “When we embarked on exploratory discussions with Lidl last year, we never dreamed that we would now be in a position to drastically improve efficiencies for the team, whilst also being able to interact even more with the local community."

He continued, "This new base will give us the chance to lower our running costs and increase our capabilities to train more people from the local area who want
to join the team. We are very fortunate to have an incredible level of support from the local community and we are confident that this new chapter in the history of Mourne MRT will be of enormous benefit to the whole area."