Mountaineering Scotland and the Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland (OATS) are excited to announce that the It’s Up to Us (IUTU) campaign will be the focus of the Pennies scheme in Cotswold Outdoor stores, launching today (2nd September 2024) and running until the end of the year.
Now in its second year, It’s Up to Us is a three-year campaign to raise £300,000 for much-needed path repairs on An Teallach, one of Scotland’s most iconic mountains. With the launch of the Pennies scheme, each time you shop at a Cotswold Outdoor store in Scotland you’ll have the chance to round-up and donate as little as one penny at the checkout to support the It’s Up to Us campaign. Collectively, these small donations really do add up…just £5 could pay for gloves and eye protection for volunteers and contractors, while £100 could build one metre of gravel path.
CEO of the Outdoor Access Trust Scotland, Dougie Baird, said: ‘’It is fantastic that Cotswold Outdoor have chosen to support the Its Up To Us An Teallach appeal as the focus of their Pennies initiative.
All of us who love the outdoors understand the need for good kit on the hill, and it is really good to know a little bit of each purchased piece of kit during the initiative will be going to help look after the mountains that so enrich our lives.’’
The initial stage of the campaign is focused on repairing 3.2km of badly eroded path on An Teallach, with contractors from Cairngorm Wilderness Contracts (CWC) having so far completed 340m of path building and maintenance work on the mountain, funded by the campaign and supported by a team of enthusiastic path maintenance volunteers. The campaign is also calling on Government to help develop a sustainable funding model for building and maintenance work across Scotland’s upland path network to ensure it is kept fit for purpose for future generations to enjoy.
Visit: www.savemountainpaths.scot to find out more and donate.
Don’t forget, you can follow all the latest campaign news using the hashtags:
#ItsUptoUs and #SaveMountainPaths