news top RNLi AWARds The RNLI held its Annual Presentation of Awards in London’s Barbican Centre on 17 May, and Bronze Medals for Gallantry were awarded by HRH The Duke of Kent to Dr Christine Bradshaw (see page 16), Lifeguard Sophie Grant-Crookston (see page 20) and Coxswain Donald MacLeod (see left and the Lifeboat Winter 2006–7).

People like Christine, Sophie and Donald would not be able to save lives at sea without the help of supporters around the UK and RoI. So supporter awards were also presented, as follows.

Portpatrick Coxswain Robert Erskine received the individual award. In addition to his lifeboating role, Robert organises a week of RNLI fundraising events and activities every year. Locals and visitors to the small town are inspired by Robert’s enthusiasm, and the week brings in about £20,000 for the RNLI annually. Children’s television show Blue Peter was given a lifetime achievement award in recognition of its work to bring the RNLI to generations of young people since 1956. Blue Peter appeals have funded 25 lifeboats, which have been involved in saving more than 1,000 lives.

The group award went to the Portrush raft race committee. The race in question was fi rst held in the County Antrim town in 1981 and has raised more than £500,000 in 26 years. Cluny Primary School in Banffshire and Manchester’s Chetham’s School of Music won the youth awards, while Tenby’s new RNLI shop was top of the retailer category.

Unilever, in the guise of Walls’ ice cream, was named the corporate supporter of the year. BBC Radio Cornwall was given the media relations award. Dozens of grassroots supporters were also honoured. New for Norfolk The RNLI plans to double the number of beaches for which it provides lifeguards by 2011. This year, RNLI lifeguards can be seen on nine new beaches.

Lifeguards in Norfolk form the service’s ? rst departure from the south west of England. Sea Palling, Mundesley, Cromer East and Sheringham beaches have all had lifeguards on patrol since May, while Cromer West’s service starts on 7 July.

There are now patrols on West Bay, Charmouth (pictured) and Lyme Regis beaches on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast. This area has become very popular recently and the local council is working with the RNLI to improve safety. Safety signs have been introduced, risk assessments have been carried out and now the lifeguards are on hand for safety advice, ? rst aid and, of course, beach rescue.

Sandy Bay beach in Exmouth will also bene? t from the presence of RNLI lifeguards during the Summer. Biggest ever lifeboat contract dMl are to build nine Tamar class lifeboats over the next 3 years, after being awarded the RnlI’s largest ever single such contract.

The Plymouth-based company built the prototype Tamar and also the ? rst four production boats, which are now on station.

Production of a new lifeboat will start every 3 months, with up to four in production at any given time. This near-assembly-line ef? ciency is a ? rst and will make the deal excellent value for the charity.

Each lifeboat will take around 11 months to build. The competitively tendered contract is worth £12.6M. Be Seen To Be Beachwise After record ? gures for lifeguard activity in 2006, and with even greater visitor numbers expected on beaches in 2007, the RnlI is running its new Beachwise campaign.

Beachwise messages are to choose a lifeguarded beach and to swim between the red and yellow fl ags. This is where lifeguards will be actively patrolling and will be able to respond quickly if people get into diffi culty.

Readers in the south west of England can look out for billboards, bus stop posters and other promotional activity. If the campaign is successful this year, it will be launched in other areas to complement the expansion of the RNLI will be able to respond quickly if people get into diffi culty.

of England can look out for billboards, bus stop posters and other promotional activity. If the campaign is successful this year, it will be launched in other areas to complement the expansion of the RNLI Lifeguards service. Meanwhile, beach-lovers around the UK will be kept informed through magazines, newspapers and television programmes.

Figures from RoSPA show that visitors are 500 times less likely to drown at a beach that has a lifeguarding service. The Marine Conservation Society has compiled a list of lifeguard-patrolled beaches in the UK and RoI at www.goodbeachguide.co.uk. for a safe day at the beach, remember fLAGs: ind the red and yellow ? ags and swim between them.

ook at the safety signs.

sk a lifeguard for advice.

et a friend to swim with you.

tick your hand up and shout for help if in dif? culty.

f L a G s Busiest year yet At the RNLI’s AGM on 17 May, Chairman Admiral Sir Jock Slater gave an overview of 2006, the charity’s busiest year ever.

Lifeboat crews launched 8,377 times in 2006, an average of 23 times a day, rescuing 8,015 people. Lifeguards assisted 10,448 people in 9,411 incidents. Together, the RNLI’s lifeboat crews and lifeguards saved 299 lives.

The rollout of the B class Atlantic 85 lifeboat continued in 2006. There are now 10 on station and 6 in the relief fl eet. Tamar class all-weather lifeboats went on service at Padstow, Peterhead, Tenby and Longhope.

Three more Tamars are due on service this year, while trials of the Fast carriage boat 2, which will start replacing the Mersey class in 2010, continue.

The exceptionally generous response of supporters to the RNLI’s request for help in 2006 brought in a record amount: £126.8M. Of this, £13M was volunteer-led and £83.5M from legacies. This increased income enabled previously delayed projects to be taken up again, notably lifeboat building (see opposite) and shoreworks (see page 36). Contact supporter Care for your copy of the Annual Review, Annual Report and Accounts and 5-year RNLI Plan or see rnli.org.uk or see rnli.org.uk PaDstow awarDs Padstow’s new Tamar class slipway boathouse has won two prestigious awards.

In February it was named the winner of the new building category at the Cornish Building Group Awards. In May it won the Local Authority Building Control Award in the best public/community project category for the south west of England. The boathouse now goes forward to the national fi nals, where The Lifeboat College in Poole won its category in 2005. (Also see page 36.) VeLLUM serViCes On page 23 we highlight a rescue in Dun Laoghaire for which Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum was awarded.

Other Vellums awarded recently include Portrush, for the rescue of two children and their father, and Lough Swilly after the crew saved six people from a drifting crabber.

Humber crew were thanked for an 11-hour service to a yacht in gale force conditions, while Hastings crew were acknowledged after doing everything possible to save a swimmer in diffi culty. PresiDent Visits RNLI President HRH The Duke of Kent has been busy. Before presenting awards at the Barbican in May (see opposite), he attended the anniversary service in April for The Mumbles lifeboat crew members who lost their lives in service in 1947.

The Duke toured the lifeboat stations of Kirkwall, Stromness and Longhope in June, and attended the naming ceremony for Longhope’s Tamar class lifeboat (also see page 16). He also named Mudeford’s new inshore Atlantic 85 lifeboat. Lifeboat on show for 100 years Redcar’s Zetland museum, the home of the world’s oldest surviving lifeboat, celebrated its centenary on 1 May.

The Zetland lifeboat arrived at Redcar in 1802, predating the foundation of the RNLI by 22 years, and saved more than 500 lives in her 78 years of service. After being retired, she was put in storage before going on display to the public in 1907.

Current Redcar Senior Helmsman Mike Picknett, whose great great uncle was Coxswain of the Zetland and lived above the old boathouse (now the museum), was among the guests at the anniversary ceremony.

The museum’s honorary curator Eddie Ransom says: ‘Everyone who sees the Zetland is amazed by how courageous the early lifeboatmen must have been. They put to sea rowing an open boat without any of the specialist equipment today’s crews have, and saved hundreds of lives.’ The museum is open every day from 11am–4pm, except Mondays, until the end of September. Entry is free but donations from visitors will help the crews of the Zetland’s successors continue her lifesaving tradition. Bristol Channel trial The RNLI carried out a 3-day feasibility trial of an inshore rescue hovercraft at Weston-super-Mare in April.

Hovercraft Operations Manager Andrew Woods says: ‘The RNLI is aware of the problems that can occur in the Bristol Channel, and we want to gather data. There are no immediate plans to station a hovercraft in the area but this information will prove extremely useful should we establish a need for such a vessel in the future.’ The trial incorporated launching and recovery tests, as well as an exercise with the local Coastguard team using mud rescue techniques.

Rescue hovercraft were introduced to the RNLI fleet in 2002 and are in operation at New Brighton, Morecambe, Southend-on-Sea and Hunstanton. Folk fundraiser Award-winning folk songstress Kate Rusby performed a gig in aid of the RNLI at Whitby Pavilion on 21 April.

A total of £8,000 was raised, with the raffle alone taking £1,040. Fundraiser Graham Holmes, who organised the event with his wife, said of the 3-hour set: ‘It was an absolutely stunning performance and everyone was gobsmacked by how good she was.’ Kate is pictured in Whitby’s Trent class lifeboat before the show. New, improved RWC As the retail market moves towards bigger, more powerful machines, Yamaha has supplied the RNLI with a new model of rescue watercraft (RWC): the VX700.

Developed for the Asian market, the VX700 has the same engine as the RWC that RNLI lifeguards currently use, but in a new hull.

Trials showed that it handles very well in surf and is easier to manoeuvre. The reverse mechanism is improved and there is more space on the aft deck. Overall its design is less cumbersome than the new UK models.

There is one unit in operation now, with its own trailer and sled. As the older RWCs are no longer in production, the new models will replace those taken out of service in the coming years. Lady launcher passes away It is with sadness that the Lifeboat reports the passing away of Dungeness ‘lady launcher’ Doris Tart (pictured above, front) on 30 April at Ashford’s William Harvey Hospital, aged 85.

Doris lived for most of her life in a fi sherman’s cottage close to the present lifeboat station. The constantly moving shingle at Dungeness often made lifeboat launch and recovery diffi cult. Before a tractor was sent to the station in 1979, the Tart and Oiller families formed the backbone of a group of women who launched the lifeboat as most of the local men were on the crew.

Doris served the RNLI as a launcher for 44 years and was awarded a Gold Badge on her retirement. Doris’s mother-in-law Ellen and her aunt, Madge, were both awarded the RNLI’s Gold Badge in 1954 for helping launch the lifeboat every time it put to sea for more than 50 years. Doris’s father, Douglas Oiller, was Coxswain from 1916 to 1947 and received a Bronze Medal for Gallantry, while her grandfather, cousin and husband all received gallantry awards as crew members.

When Doris had to move out of her home due to poor health she gave her collection of lifeboat artefacts and awards to the lifeboat gallery at the Historic Dockyard in Chatham. She was proud to view the resulting exhibition when it opened in June 2006. weLCoMe to MarrieD LifesaVinG getting married? Already have a toaster? Why not set up a wedding list with a difference at weddinglistgiving.com? the RNLi is one of a number of charities you can support by asking your guests to make a donation rather than spending hours trawling for the ‘perfect’ gift.

simply register on the site, let your family and friends know about it and you can make your big day special for all those who bene? t from your alternative list. Log in to your personal page whenever you like to read messages from your loved ones and see how much has been raised on your behalf. donors in the UK can increase the value of their gifts with gift Aid.

Wedding List giving’s sister sites offer the same service for civil partnerships and anniversaries.

if you know someone who is getting married but isn’t registered with the site, you can still make a donation on their behalf. Call RNLi supporter Care on 0845 121 4999 to ? nd out how. DireCtor ChanGe David Brook joined the RNLI as Engineering and Supply Director on 12 June.

Mr Brook has more than 20 years’ experience in a number of engineering and operations roles with the RAF. Former Director David Morgan retired on 30 June, allowing a handover and familiarisation period. The Engineering and Supply department is crucial to the RNLI, managing the design, manufacture, procurement, storage, delivery, re? t, repair, overhaul and disposal of everything from boats to boots. CrUise forUM The Seatrade UK Cruise Forum, held in April, brought in about £5,600 for saving lives at sea. The forum gives representatives from UK ports the chance to meet cruise line executives from companies like Fred. Olsen, a major corporate supporter of the RNLI. Poole’s Economic Development Department won the right to host the forum and decided to do so at The Lifeboat College in Poole, where top-class, waterfront conferencing facilities can be enjoyed while hire costs go straight to the RNLI. fUtUre tribUte The RNLI is planning a tribute to all the crew members and fundraisers who have served the Institution over the past 180-plus years. A sculpture and garden at RNLI Headquarters in Poole are hoped to be completed in 2008–9, subject to planning permission and ? nding suitable funding. RNLI Chief Executive Andrew Freemantle is planning a sponsored cycle to Rome later this year as part of the fundraising for this project.

See rnli.org.uk/memorial. Train One, Save Many The Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust has just announced it is to fund sea survival courses at The Lifeboat College over the next 3 years. This is the largest donation to the Train one, save many campaign so far. Part of the Trust’s work is to support activities that enhance the safety of life throughout the world. RNLI crew training proved a good ? t, with the Trust agreeing to give £625,000 towards these essential courses. HBOS CHALLENGE The Family Holiday Association (FHA) and the RNLI are now beginning to receive the proceeds of a huge fundraising drive by staff of the Halifax and Bank of Scotland (HBOS).

Last issue, the Lifeboat reported that a joint application by the two charities was runner up in the HBOS Million £ Challenge 2007. Once the fundraising target of £1M for the winner, the British Heart Foundation, was met, further funds would come to the FHA and RNLI. Amazingly, this has already begun and thousands of disadvantaged families will benefi t from the chance to go on their fi rst seaside holiday – and keep safe.

Readers can support the initiative by buying Paddington Bear toys from HBOS branches throughout the UK during August.

The bears come in three fun outfi ts and cost £2.50 each. HBOS will match the money raised, meaning that £5 is received for every bear sold. Paddington Bear will be replaced in November with characters from the 80s children’s TV show Fraggle Rock. Corrections The Spring 2007 centre-spread picture of the rescue team at Tenby included representatives of the local Police, Ambulance, Fire and Coastguard services, though these were omitted from the caption. Sincere apologies to all concerned.

In the same issue, the panel on Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs) on page 27 advised that small craft carry an EPIRB if they sail more than 60 miles from the coast. This should have read 30 miles. USELESS UNLESS WORN This is the key safety message that the RNLI is promoting amongst boat owners this Summer, regarding lifejackets.

Many seagoers carry a lifejacket onboard but few actually wear one all the time they’re at sea. A lifejacket can buy a casualty valuable time for rescuers to reach them in the water and even save their life.

Readers of the RNLI’s Offshore supplement can fi nd out much more in the accompanying issue. Articles include personal accounts from survivors – and doubters – and the results of a lifejacket trial amongst fi shermen.

Also see rnli.org.uk/seasafety. (Contact RNLI Supporter Care for details of how to become an Offshore member or to subscribe to Offshore if you are a Governor.) Bring on the sun! Visitors to the RNLI Headquarters open days later this month will now be able to keep safe from the sun while enjoying the exhibits and demonstrations (see picture below).

Boots has generously agreed to donate 16,000 sachets of their Soltan suncream to the RNLI for the weekend of 21–22 July. That should be enough for everyone in the expected crowds to benefi t – but don’t forget to bring a hat and sunglasses! Entry to The Lifeboat College and neighbouring RNLI depot in Poole will be on a fi rst-come fi rst-served basis and costs £1 for anyone aged 5 or over.

See rnli.org.uk/opendays and your copy of RNLI Compass for more Headquarters and station open day information. .