Donations wanted to help lifesaving charity on Yorkshire Coast

Scarborough and Ryedale Mountain Rescue Team says fundraising has been tough because of coronavirus.

Author: Karen LiuPublished 22nd Dec 2020

A lifesaving charity on the Yorkshire Coast is asking for financial support.

The Scarborough and Ryedale Mountain Rescue Team says fundraising has been tough because of coronavirus.

The virus has also meant it has had to spend more money.

Ian Hugill, who is from there, said:

"As with all charities, and we are charity completely run by volunteers, our income streams have been severely curtailed this year. We get an awful lot of donations from people who take part in outdoor activities, we get people fundraising that way and we run our own fundraising activities but all of those have stopped this year.

"Our costs have gone up and we've had to procure PPE as with most people. We've had to think about how we clean our equipment sot here's an awful lot more time spent sterilising and cleaning equipment, washing our waterproofs and washing some of the equipment that we use.

"We've had some superb support this year from companies, businesses and members of the community which means we have ended the year with a reasonable budget and be able to move forward into 2021 to provide the same service as we have done for years.

"We have a thing called a 'casualty bag' which is effectively a big pile of sleeping bags. Historically, we'd take that to the local dry cleaners and clearly we can't do that because of lockdown but also perhaps we shouldn't be taking that sort of equipment to commercial properties so we've had to invest in an industrial washing machine."

Anyone who wishes to donate to Scarborough and Ryedale Mountain Rescue Team can find out how here: https://www.srmrt.org.uk/get-involved/donate/

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