The Aberdeen Mountain Rescue Team has been gifted the ownership of their operations base.

St John Scotland has handed over the keys to the Westhill building – in a move to be mirrored in other Scottish bases – giving “full control” back to the teams.

Since it began its support of mountain rescue, St John Scotland has provided bases for 14 teams, including Aberdeen, Arran, Dundonnell, Oban, two in Skye and Ullapool.

The Aberdeen base is the first facility gifted by St John Scotland to the local teams themselves in a “time to be generous” move.

Scott Stevens, Aberdeen Mountain Rescue’s team leader, said: “We are extremely grateful to St John Scotland for the very kind donation of the base, and for all their help”