Colouring the Community

The headquarters of Kinder Mountain Rescue, part of the Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation, has had a new lease of life thanks to a generous paint donation from the Dulux Decorator Centre, on Brookside Industrial Estate in Stockport.

The headquarters, which consists of a meeting room, a control room, utility and ambulance bay was painted from floor to ceiling by a team of 10 volunteers from Kinder Mountain Rescue. They spent two weeks refreshing the dull concrete walls with white and cream paints, while the floor of the ambulance bay was painted in bright red.

Kinder Mountain Rescue, based in High Peak, provides a search and rescue service supporting walkers and climbers in the Peak District, Derbyshire and Stockport areas 365 days a year. The team, which is run entirely by volunteers, works on a call out system via 999 and was instrumental in helping the local ambulance services cope with the heavy snowfalls earlier this year.

Ken Blakeman, chairman of Kinder Mountain Rescue, said: "The rescue centre was in dire need of a lick of paint, but due to limited funding it was never a priority. Our volunteers have worked extremely hard over the last few weeks and our facilities look like new.

"Our headquarters are manned 24 hours a day and it's important that we keep the place looking welcoming, so we want to say a huge thank you to Dulux Decorator Centres for helping to make this happen."

Barry Wells, store manager of Stockport Dulux Decorator Centres, said: "Kinder Mountain Rescue is an important asset to the local area and we were really pleased to help with this donation. The team of volunteers give up their spare time to save many lives each year, so providing some paint to spruce up the headquarters was the least we could do."