WHILE thousands of youngsters started their arduous Ten Tors challenge, the North Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team gratefully collected thousands of pounds from Okehampton United Charity for the team's new centre.

While helping to marshall the event, the team was visited by Derek Webber, Ken Heard and Karen Percival, of the charity, to present them with a cheque for £40,000 to go towards the purchase of the new NDSART rescue centre on the Exeter Road Industrial Estate.

The new centre will include a drying room, a facility not in the current centre, but which should prove very useful for future Ten Tors events, particularly considering the team's equipment and clothing were drenched during one of the wettest Ten Tors in recent history.