Cooke Scotland is proud of the fantastic work from its staff involved in rescues and helping those in distress by volunteering in remote locations throughout the Highlands and Islands.
Volunteering can not only be rewarding for the individual, but is a way to give back to your local community by working as part of a team to perform efforts such as search and rescue operations and even saving lives in the process.
Throughout Cooke we have volunteers involved with the Coastguard, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), the ambulance service, firefighting crews and Mountain Rescue.
Euan Dougall is a Seawater Site Assistant in Hoy, Orkney and a RNLI Longhope Lifeboat crew member.
“The bit I enjoy most about the RNLI is the fact we’re a very close-knit crew here in Longhope,” he said. “Also being able to help someone in need is a big point as well!”
Being a volunteer for one of these services can be a way of improving your mental and physical health, boosting your self-confidence, and an opportunity for personal and professional growth.
Sonja Brown, Environmental Analyst and Mountain Rescue team member, nobly dedicates a significant amount of her spare time volunteering for training and callouts.
She said: “We train as a full team once a month for 1-2 days; this makes sure everyone is equipped with the standard skills like: first aid, rope work, navigation in all conditions, packaging and evacuation and search techniques, and that we work cohesively as a team.
“Frequency of callouts is variable, but we are seeing things generally getting busier. Last year our team, covering Sutherland and Caithness, handled 28 callouts totalling 1,200+ volunteer hours. The peak time for callouts tends to be weekends, with afternoon and early evening being a particular hotspot. Typically, June is our busiest month as more folk venture out to enjoy the outdoors.”
With the remote nature of the Scottish mountains, the terrain and the prevailing weather mean that many search and rescue operations in Scotland simply cannot be carried out without large numbers of volunteers able to go out on foot and who can be mobilised quickly. Mountain rescue teams work in close partnership with other agencies including SAR helicopters to get the swiftest outcomes, and conditions in the hills often mean that volunteers on the ground are a vital part of operations.
Head of Modelling at Cooke Scotland, Charlie Greenwood, leads the Hebrides Mountain Rescue team and attended 36 incidents in 2024.
He said: “I saw this as a great opportunity to learn a range of new skills and experience new things. These days, I still find helping people very rewarding but also enjoy developing team members’ skills. This enables the team to continue and improve its capabilities and enables a more efficient response when required.
“What I enjoy most is the camaraderie and mutual trust within the team. In addition to this, I very much enjoy the variety of and challenges that we are exposed to. You never know when you will get a call out, what it will be or where you have to go. While this can be sometimes disruptive, it keeps things interesting.”
Thank you and well done to all our Cooke team who selflessly volunteer for these organisations. Our communities are counting on them and are grateful for the services they provide.
From L-R: Charlie Greenwood, Euan Dougall, and Sonja Brown