Clinging to the Devonshire coastal rock, Dartmouth is both a fi shing and naval port. Its waters also teem with leisure craft, jostling for the town’s 3,000-plus berths. More than 2M people fi nd themselves on the River Dart each year and the RNLI was keen to provide safety cover for all – but there were practical limitations.

The area was reliant on the all-weather lifeboats stationed at Torbay and Salcombe, 10 miles and 13 miles away respectively. Despite their renowned power, they could take 30 minutes to reach the river, where entry was diffi cult. The solution was to station an inshore lifeboat within the mouth of the river – a vision that became a living reality on 7 November 2007.

feats of fundraising

With the river so much at the heart of their daily lives and livelihoods, the local community rose impressively to the fi nancial challenge of a new lifeboat station. AppealManager David Hannah explains how they brought the station into being: ‘It all kicked off with a mailing to 17,500 local residents and supporters in Devon and some well-chosen phone calls.

‘Street collections across Totnes and Dartmouth and a host of other local events provided the backbone of the support and the enthusiasm: everything from mud wrestling to regattas. After 20 months, with David Dimbleby as our patron, we managed to exceed our target of £259,000 and raise £301,000. This secured the cost of training our marvellous volunteers too.

’Crew members, shore helpers and other station volunteers were not hard to fi nd and, before the station came into being formally, schoolboy competition winner william smith witnesses donor Barbara Felton of caterfood dub the new lifeboat Spirit of the Dart, shortly before the second emergency call out of the day photo: Nigel Millard26rescuePhoto: Claire Vandvikthey trialled a lifeboat from the relief fl eet (pictured). ‘Meanwhile,’ David explains: ‘we were delighted when local family-run company Caterfood wanted to sponsor our very own new lifeboat. At their suggestion, ideas for her name came from a competition among local schoolchildren, which was a really nice touch.’

Other station essentials have their own unique funding story: ‘The launching tractor, now called Thomas, was paid for by a donor with a connection to Rev. Awdry, the creator of Thomas the tank engine. The Hadley Trust funded the crew’s kit, while their meeting table and chairs were sponsored by an “in memoriam” gift: a supporter wrote to her friends asking for gifts to the appeal in memory of her late husband.

’An operational success

Today, the D class infl atable Spirit of the Dart can launch to casualties up to 8 miles upriver and shouts have included attending a man in the river at Totnes, an engine fi re at Berry Head and a broken down vessel at Start Point. Even in the midst of her naming ceremony celebrations on 2 August 2008, the pagers went off and the crew forewent their cream teas to search the shoreline for a missing person.

Haydn Glanvill describes his time so far on the fl edgling crew: ‘As people who work or play on the water, we are all bound to the sea, so it was only natural for us to move into the RNLI. We make an incredibly strong team with a great social side too. Because we’re volunteers, the camaraderie is even higher than in my work as a paramedic.

‘We all bring extra skills to the crew and station. I can provide extra fi rst aid training and take my specialist kit, including morphine, onboard. This was very useful for the casualty in the shout that put us most to the test: our fi rst night-time rescue. Out at 2am in the pitch black, it was quite a learning curve. The fi rst few minutes saw a bit of fumbling with the radio and the lights but once we got to the location we were a complete team ready and able to do our bit.

‘It was August and six young lads had decided to have a party on an isolated beach, accessible only by a very diffi cult path. As night fell they moved into a cave and lit a fi re to sit around. The heat dried the slate roof of the cave until, with a loud crack, a large rock fell onto the legs of one of the boys. It took all the strength of his friends to roll it off. Lucky for him, he was in deep, soft sand so his legs were saved. Lucky for all of them, it wasn’t anyone’s head.

’And what of the future for ‘team RNLI’ at Dart? ‘Our station is really alive. It’s not a cold place: it has a heart. There’s a constant fl ow of comings and goings of people of all ages and our dedicated and enthusiastic Lifeboat Operations Manager Rob Clements might as well move his bed in, he’s there so often! And now I’ve got the visiting bug: when I was in London, I popped into Tower lifeboat station to say hello, and into Moelfre when I was on Anglesey. We all had a good chat about things. I know it’s said a lot, but the RNLI really is one big family.‘