Hamish the Highland Coo teaches kids about mountain safety

Tayside Mountain Rescue have launched a dance-along music video in a bid to teach local children about the importance of mountain safety.

The music video, created by local aerial drone operators Broadwing Media, stars the rescue team’s mascot Hamish the Highland Coo, who encourages children to warm up, bring water and a packed lunch on hill walks.

The video takes viewers on an ‘all singing all dancing’ journey around local cultural landmarks such as the V&A, RRS Discovery and Slessor Gardens, finishing at Corrie Fee.

Hamish’s music video is part of the rescue team’s wider educational initiative, The Hamish Hub, an interactive website designed to encourage children to plan ahead for exploring the outdoors.

The Hamish Hub delivers hillwalking tips and advice via engaging activities such as competitions, quizzes and creative activities.

It also includes a downloadable Education Pack which can be used by primary teachers as a classroom resource.

Tayside Mountain Rescue have been working with children and teachers at St Joseph’s Primary School in Dundee over the past 24 months, planning and piloting the educational initiative.

Paul Russell from Tayside Mountain Rescue said: “The video is a fun element to an education programme that we’ve been working on now for a couple of years, primarily with St Joseph’s Primary School in Dundee.

“First of all, we developed a mascot and now we’ve developed an education strategy around hopefully hillwalkers of the future and getting the safety message out in that respect.

“Since we had all the lockdowns,more and more people are going out into the hills and unfortunately, we get called out to a lot of people who are underprepared.

“With this strategy, what we’re trying to do is educate people at a younger age so they can speak to their parents.

“When they do go out in the hills, now and in the future, they’ll be more than well prepared.”