John Devereux, 43, of Kilmore Quay lifeboat station joined the crew in 1968 and served as assistant motor mechanic in the years from April 1974 to January 1982, when he was appointed coxswain.

On Christmas Eve 1977, Kilmore Quay's lifeboat ON 997 Lady Murphy (which served the station from 1972 to 1991) capsized twice while on service to reported flares, with the loss of life of crewman Finton Sinnott. For his part in the service, John was awarded the Bronze Medal for courage and determination.

A fisherman by trade, John was awarded the long service badge in 1990.

Facts and Figures Provisional statistics as at 25 February 1992 show that during 1991: The RNLI's lifeboats were launched 4,935 times (an average of more than 13 launches a day) More than 1,308 lives were saved (an average of nearly 4 people saved each day) Five per cent of all services carried out by lifeboats were in winds of Force 8 and above Nearly 56 per cent of all services were to pleasure craft (sail, power and manual pleasure craft) There are 268 lifeboats on station, with a further 94 in the relief fleet, and To 31 December 1991, 122,424 lives have been saved since the RNLI was founded in 1824.

Costs The cost of running the RNLI in 1991 was £44m.

The approximate current cost of building a lifeboat is: 16ft D class inflatable - £10,000 21 ft Atlantic rigid inflatable - £56,000 38ft 6in Mersey - £650,000 Fast Afloat Boat 4 - £900,000* Fast Afloat Boat 3 - £1,200,000* "Estimates based on prototypes, production costs may differ.