Distinguished Service Award for Bill Glennie
Distinguished Service Award for Bill Glennie
Scottish Mountain Rescue recently presented Bill Glennie of Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) with a Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his outstanding service over 33 years with the team, as well as his roles with the national body as Scottish Mountain Rescue Chair and Radio Officer.
Image: Bill (second from left) representing SMR in parliament at the All Party Parliamentary Group for Volunteer Search and Rescue Groups, March 2025
Bill is hanging up his operational boots as a member of Tweed Valley MRT at the age of 76, after more than 33 years in mountain rescue, most recently as Chair of the national organisation, Scottish Mountain Rescue (SMR). He joined Tweed Valley MRT in the early 90’s at a time when he was working 6-day weeks building up his optometric business and raising 4 young children. It was an opportunity to volunteer, give back to the outdoor community and to meet like-minded individuals.
Bill has, for some time now, been seen as one of the ‘old boys’ of the team, providing a crucial and much appreciated link back to the earlier days. In fact, some time ago he was affectionately given the nickname “grandpa” and as far back as 1997, this was celebrated (tongue in cheek) by a short poem that was printed in the team newsletter (see below).
He is respected for his calm and careful attention to detail and considered counsel. These attributes helped when, early on in his time with the team, he undertook training in managing missing person searches and joined the small team of others who were moving the team towards this structured approach. He has seen many changes within TVMRT – new people, new vehicles, new equipment, new radios, and a new base, but through all this the one thing that hasn’t changed is the value that the team places on his input and opinion.
Image: Bill (back left) and members of Tweed Valley MRT being presented with the King’s Coronation Medal for volunteer service, 2024
In 2016, Bill stood for election to a national post at a time when the organisation was under considerable strain. He was elected as Radio Officer and undertook a highlight achievement of his MR career. He led on the huge task of sourcing funding for new radios for all team members in Scotland. This monumental effort in dealing with suppliers, negotiating with government and rolling out the radios to teams was even more noteworthy because, at the start, Bill had little or no expertise in this field – a true volunteer!
At the end of his 6 years as radio officer, Bill was elected as Chair of SMR and, as he now moves on, has put in motion the wheels of change to ensure the stability of the organisation for the future. Bill’s contribution to mountain rescue has increased as time has gone on, encompassing everything from local team member to the role of SMR Chair that arguably takes more time and sacrifice than any other role in the country as chair of the national organisation.
At national level, Bill has demonstrated that the ‘mountain rescue family’ goes beyond your own team. Closer to home, his leading example encouraged his own 15-year-old son in 1993 to be a ‘body on the hill’ to help with another team member’s first SARDA dog and then go on to now hold the position of SMR’s medical officer!
Bill is the epitome of what mountain rescue can do for volunteers and how it can change lives.
Image: Bill (left) with Dave and Steve of Tweed Valley MRT at the official opening of HM Coastguard Rescue Helicopter Base at Prestwick Airport, 2015.
Scottish Mountain Rescue say:
“Bill has made an exceptional contribution to Mountain Rescue in Scotland, not only through his long service with Tweed Valley MRT, but through his leadership at a national level. His work as Radio Officer and later as Chair has helped shape and strengthen the organisation for the future. We thank him for his remarkable commitment over more than three decades.”
Poem (from SMC Journal Vol XXXII 1984) and placed in the Tweed Valley MRT newsletter in 1997 with kind (and slightly cheeky) reference to Bill:
He checked all our gear and he hushed all our chatter,
for “Climbing a mountain’s a serious matter.”
Then we lined up behind him while he set the pace,
for “Climbing a mountain should not be a race.”
It wasn’t a race, but we wanted to know
why climbing a mountain should be quite so slow,
and I said as I shuffled along in the rear,
“We’d get on much better if Grandpa weren’t here!”
As we tramped up the ridge in a long crocodile,
with Grandpa in front of the slow-moving file,
he stepped on a treacherous cornice of snow,
which promptly collapsed and he shot off below!
We watched and applauded this singular trick,
for we’d never seen Grandpa moving so quick.
He crashed to the bottom and lay there quite still.
so we went up for lunch to the top of the hill!
The view was delightful, the company good,
the weather was fine, and so was the food,
and I said as I gobbled up Grandpa’s share,
“We’re getting on better now Grandpa’s not there.”