On 23 May 2001 the first RNLI inland waterway lifeboat station, on Lough Erne in Northern Ireland, opened for business.

Honorary secretary Sam McCreery and deputy launching authority Archie Birrell report on the events of the first yearTwo German tourists drowned on Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, in May last year.

Their deaths coincided with the opening, on the lough, of the RNLI's first inland waters lifeboat station. Sadly, there was nothing that could be done for these men, but their death highlighted why a rescue service is needed on this busy waterway.

The need for a professional rescue service had been identified on Lough Erne some time ago. Archie Birrell, deputy launching authority at Enniskilten station, says: 'My interest in a rescue service of some kind on Lough Erne goes back about 11 years, when I ran the waterbus service. At that time the Royal Ulster Constabulary were responsible for safety and emergencies on the lough.' A group of interested local people, with the help of the coastguard, the police and the local council, set up Lough Erne Rescue as a charitable trust and ran events to raise money to start the service.

It was at this time that the RNLI was considering ways of saving more lives and looking at providing search and rescue cover on main inland waterways.

The RNLI realised that there might be a difference between operating lifeboat stations inland compared with a coast operation. To investigate this, a pilot lough Erne is split into the Upper and Lower Loughs. At the point where the two parts meet is the town of Enniskillen, where most of the volunteers live. This is why the station has been called Enniskillen lifeboat station' project was set up, in the same manner as a coastal station, and Lough Erne was chosen as the first site. The already established Lough Erne Rescue had done the spadework for a rescue service and this allowed the RNLI to move in quickly to help.

Many of the RNLI volunteers had a long history of involvement with the lough. Enniskillen station honorary secretary Sam McCreery remembers: 'I was a member of the police rescue plan for the lough and progressed through Lough Erne Rescue to the RNLI.' Gary Jones, who is now a senior helmsman for the RNLI at the station was the chairman of Lough Erne Rescue. 'Lough Erne Rescue got together with the RNLI and I got into the crew as that was where my heart lay,' he says.

The RNLI provided an Atlantic 21 lifeboat for a one-year evaluation. A temporary station was based at Lough 7 have always loved watersports and I knew the RNLI needed me' Dora McMaster, crew member Erne Yacht Club, who have given great support to the project. At this point the station was nothing more than three port-a-cabins kitted out as an operations room, crew changing facility and workshop.

But this was enough to get started.

Eight volunteer crew members attended helmsman training at Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, and a few weeks later six crew did a VHP radio training course at Poole and one did a mechanics course. In April, two committee members went to the headoffice in Poote for training in running the station. Serious training on the lough began in late March and crews were out seven days and nights each week.

Training continued during March, April and May. The RNLI's divisional inspector for Ireland, Colin Williams, and his deputy, Owen Medland, came up to assess the crew's performance on both day and night exercises. The RNLI has high training standards and no station can operate unless enough crew have passed certain standards. Colin and Owen were pleased to find that the crews were up to scratch and gave the go ahead for Enniskillen lifeboat station to become a reality.

At the same time, a support group of volunteers had been working behind the scenes. An honorary secretary, three deputy launching authorities, tractor 7 was working at a holiday village when I got interested in the lifeboat' Kathryn Russeil, crew member drivers and committee were appointed.

The Coastguard then took over responsibility for search and rescue on Lough Erne from the police and the station was declared open.

Between May and October 2001, the lifeboat was called out 16 times, for rescues ranging from boats aground, boats adrift, personal water craft (such as jet skis) in difficulty and a hanging dog - demonstrating how its choke chain worked as it dangled over the side of a grounded cruiser.

Once the station was up and running, there was the chance to iron out one or two small problems. Because of the size and complexity of the Lough Erne navigation system, the RNLI realised that one base just couldn't cope. The system comprises two main areas: Lower Lough Erne is 20 miles long by 10 miles wide at the widest part and Upper Lough Erne is 10 miles long by 6 miles wide. There are over 150 islands within this area and, including charter companies, there are over 2,000 craft on the water each year.

On the darker side, between 1990 and 1999, there was an average of two deaths per year on the loughs.

To deaf with the problems raised by this diverse area, the RNLI decided to station a second lifeboat at Cam/bridge, between Enniskillen and the Upper Lough.

More volunteers were found and started training and the new site was declared operational at dawn on Friday 1 June.

'A great team spirit has developed between management, crew and committee members,' says Sam. 'We hope this continues for years to come and helps us provide a professional service on the Lough Erne complex.'.