Cleveland Search and Rescue Team, like all other rescue teams in the country, receives no official funding. The members of the Cleveland Team must raise the £25000 annual running costs themselves.
Money comes in from a variety of sources:
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.
Like many charities in the United Kingdom, Cleveland Search and 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.
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.
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 Search and 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.
In recent years sponsored walks from some of the local pubs have become a major sourceof our income.One public house in particular, the Frigate at Marske, began the idea with the Frigate Walk from the whale bones in Captain Cook's port of Whitby to the public bar at the Frigate 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.
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.
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!
Try it out now by searching for somthing using the box below or have a browse here.
Comming soon .... Watch this space