Despite overcast skies, there was a heartwarming turnout of family and friends for the unveiling of David McLellan’s memorial at the foot of Tinto Hill.

Following a short poetry reading and a piece of music, David's sister did the honors and removed the wraps from the memorial. After which, David's legacy was celebrated with anecdotes that brought smiles and laughter, painting a picture of his vibrant life on and off the hill.

Mountain Aid were delighted to be involved in the installation of this memorial to David, a former trustee of Mountain Aid and committee member of its predecessor Boots Across Scotland.
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As you make your way up Tinto, we invite you to honor David’s memory by removing any litter you encounter — a simple yet powerful act that continues his commitment to preserving our cherished landscapes.

Mountain Aid trustees are delighted to be involved with erecting a memorial to the late Davy McLellan, a previous trustee of both Mountain Aid and its predecessor Boots Across Scotland.

A group of 6 Mountain Aid trustees and supporters got together to install a small memorial (funded by Davy's friends) at the foot of Davy's favourite hill, Tinto. Located just outside the car park, we will be unveiling the memorial this weekend. Davy's family and friends will be joining us for this occasion and we would like to invite anyone else who knew Dave to come along.

Davy had a long association with Tinto Hill (a 712m Graham in South Lanarkshire). Walking up the hill every Tuesday morning he combined his walks with regular litter picks on the hill.

The unveiling of the memorial and plaque will take place on Sunday 16th June at approximately 10.30am. The memorial is located just outside the Fallburn car park alongside the path up the hill next to an existing memorial bench approximate grid reference NS 963 373.   

Our volunteers spent a couple of days in Dundee manning a Mountain Aid stand at the annual Dundee Mountain Film Festival.
As well as all the usual promotional type stuff this year we included our very own hill-bagging board game. Using an 8-sided die (N,S,E,W,NE,SE,NW,SW) participants moved around on OS sheet no 25 bagging hills by landing on squares containing them.  Different numbers of points for different categories of hills (munro, corbett, graham, marilyn) added to the interest. Our highest scorer achieved 57 points over 10 throws of the die. All participants were given a Mountain Aid pen as a souvenir!
And of course we had donation buckets available on the table. The Mountain Aid trustees would like to thank those attenders who were kind enough to make a wee donation. We raised £57.51 for Mountain Aid funds - enough to pay for a place on one of our free 1-day courses.

Some new dates for our popular skills training courses.

First Steps  with Navigation 
Sunday 1st October
Saturday 7th October
Friday 13th October

Next Steps with Navigation
Saturday 21st October
Saturday 28th October
Saturday 11th November

First Steps in Winter (1-day)
21st January
24th February
25th February

First Steps Plus in Winter (2-days)
3rd/4th February
10th/11th February
2nd/3rd march

Some photos from our First Steps in Winter course a few weeks ago. If you are attending one of our future courses and have the chance to take a few photos (if you are not too busy learning lots of useful new skills), then please do share them to our Facebook group Mountain Aid Supporters . These photos all taken by and copyright of our course provider Andy Cloquet of Outdoor Adventures Scotland.

The Mountain Aid trustees were saddened to hear of the passing away of former committee member / volunteer, Annie Bell. During her time, Annie was an active volunteer with us and Mountain Aid was a cause close to her heart.
Our most enduring memory of Annie is the day her daughter Sally and friends were taking part in the Mountain Aid fundraiser, Ben Nevis High Tea. Sally and her companions slogged their way up Ben Nevis (but at least were rewarded with their High Tea when they got there), and then back down again. Only to discover that that the volunteer with the relaxing day at the foot of the mountain was none other than her mother Annie.

Sally and her sister Catherine have set up a PayPal fundraiser for Mountain Aid in memory of their mother. You can contribute to the Annie Bell Memorial fundraiser at 
 www.paypal.com/pools/c/8QRlBpwfkl
​At the time of writing £320 has already been raised. These money will be used to fund training courses for new hillwalkers, provide mountain safety talks, and other mountain safety related initiatives.