Mobile Training Unit No. 7 (MTU 7) is one of eight RNLI mobile training units which are dedicated to providing training for lifeboat crews at their own stations. The units vary in size from a small van (MTU 8) to large mobile classroom units like MTU 7 and each has a specific role to play.

As their 'beat' is the whole of the UK and the Republic of Ireland they are very fully employed and are only rarely seen back at their base at the RNLI's Poole Training Centre.

At the base the co-ordination of the units' station visits is carried out under the direction of the RNLI's Training Officer (Operations) Dan Nicholson, and careful co-ordination is needed on two counts. First to avoid 'overkill' at stations with MTUs queuing up like number nine buses and second to give First Aid its necessary priority - first-aiders have to revalidate their certificates every four years. The arranging of actual dates and all local liaison is in the hands of the individual instructor, who is also the driver.

The Work of MTU 7 MTU 7 isthe navigational training unit, which is not only the largest in the fleet but is also the newest, having been commissioned in July 1995.

The unit's visit to a lifeboat station allows for 24 hours of teaching time, usually completed in three-hour sessions spread over eight nights. If necessary courses are also run during the afternoons to cater for shift workers.

The arrangements are of necessity very flexible, for it has to be remembered that the students are not only volunteers but have often put in a full day's work before attending instruction.

The training syllabus is divided into three main parts- Part one is paper chart navigation, which includes such subjects as charts, buoyage, magnetic compasses, tidal work and plotting. The aim is to give crews a good grounding in the craft of coastal navigation and to aid their understanding of what the electronic kit aboard a lifeboat provides.

Part two covers the use of the integrated electronic systems now found aboard a modern lifeboat and covers Global Positioning System satellite navigators (GPS), electronic chart navigation systems (Laser Plot) and the Racal Decca Bridgemaster Radar.

The third section covers Passage Planning and is an optional extra for senior crew members. The object is to enable Coxswains and others to receive advice on the safe planning of longer passages, such as those a lifeboat might make when moved from station to station or to a boatyard for refit.

The courses now culminate in an evening navigation exercise at sea - an extremely popular item with students which helps to underpin all learning and enables them to have real hands-on experience.

MTU 7 only visits all-weather lifeboat stations, which have a habit of being tucked away in tight corners of towns and villages. Many present a real challenge for the training units, especially the larger ones, to reach as they are often located in isolated or cramped locations down narrow streets and roads. On occasion training has to be carried out away from the station, and locations have included car parks, police stations and dock estates.

In one extreme case the ferry across to the isolated island of Arranmore in County Donegal was too small to take the unit. All available kit was packed into the tractor unit and the training was carried out in the station's crew room on desks which had been borrowed from all over the island! Fortunately the electronics side could be carried out on the stations afloat Tyne.

Fame came to MTU 7 while it was in Wales earlier this year. A visit to Rhyl in May coincided with a visit to the station by the RNLI's President HRH The Dukeof Kent, who also made time to visit the unit.

This was the Duke's first visit to an MTU and he expressed great interest in the concept and the way that training was being carried out..