Around 95% of our people are volunteers, generously giving up their time while juggling family life, work, hobbies and other commitments. The ways they help are as diverse as they are essential, so we asked four very different people about their labours of love for the charity – and the objects they can’t do without …

College Tour Guide Gerald Beddard has been showing visitors behind the scenes at the home of RNLI training since 2011, and does it all for one reason: the lifeboat crew.

‘When I was 5 I was allowed to shake the RNLI collection tins while my mum pinned badges to people’s lapels. That was my first memory of the charity and I’ve supported the lifeboats ever since. I also have happy memories of going on holiday to Llandudno as a child, where the lifeboat would be sat out on the prom ready to launch. I was allowed to climb on it and play, my imagination running wild about the daring rescue I was about to do.

‘The people who come on RNLI College tours are a mix of supporters who already know about the charity, and people who just happen to be in the area. Those that don’t know about us are amazed that so many of the people in this organisation are volunteers. They’re also surprised at how much the kit and equipment costs. But, as I tell them, you can’t skimp on costs when it’s people’s lives on the line.

‘I’d say the lifeboat crews are what make my role – and everybody else’s here – possible. I’m also a volunteer boatswain: all the kit and equipment and training aids I look after are for the crews. The crews are what inspire visitors on the tours to support us. If we were a family, and we sort of are, the lifesavers would be at the centre, and people like me would be the cousins, aunts and uncles who make sure they’re OK. There are roles for everybody, so many different skills are needed.’

'I like to think that sometimes Grace would have worn it and had a nice time'

Gwyn Jackson is a volunteer at the RNLI Grace Darling Museum in Bamburgh, Northumberland. She uses her skills as a former teacher to bring the collections to life for young visitors. Her favourite object shows a different side to one of our greatest heroines.

‘I helped fundraise for the Grace Darling Museum before it was built and I’ve been a volunteer at the museum since 2008. I’m old enough to remember being inspired by names like Darling, Nightingale and Browning, and now I enjoy educating children. Here, they’re usually aged 7–11 and come to learn about the Victorians.

‘I love one exhibit in particular – a dress that belonged to both Grace and her sister. It has two sets of fastenings, so either of them could wear it (I guess there weren’t many opportunities for them to go out). I like how it’s pink, girly and tiny – a bit frivolous; not too serious and sensible like the rest of her life. Women who lived by the sea in the Victorian era often had to work hard. It was mainly women who pulled the lifeboats to launch. I like to think that sometimes Grace would have worn the dress and had a nice time.

‘The RNLI Grace Darling Museum attracts people from all over the world. I’ve met Prince Charles, who was keen to watch the Grace Darling video, and I’ve had lunch with the Duke of Kent. I told him about Queen Victoria sending money to Grace and about another gift that Grace was sent – the very latest in waterproof clothing: a mackintosh.

‘A real highlight of my time here was meeting two visitors descended from the crew Grace and her father saved. They wouldn’t have existed if the rescue had ended differently.’

‘Every person that comes through the door signs the book’

Sid Wilkins is the Shop and Visitor Experience Manager at The Mumbles Lifeboat Station, and is also involved in sea safety. His chosen object reminds him of all the visitors and supporters he’s encountered in almost 2 decades as a volunteer with the RNLI.

‘When I retired and came to The Mumbles, I went straight to the lifeboat station to see how I could get involved in some way. I became a sea safety volunteer – visiting boat clubs and marinas to do demonstrations, talks, lifejacket checks and so on. I just wanted to help with the RNLI – I think the lifeboats are a wonderful thing and that the people who crew and support them are really something to be proud of.

‘Nowadays, I’m also involved in recruiting and coordinating all the volunteers (about 48) who look after the retail and visitor side of things. They’re a fantastic team and that’s what I love about the role – the people. The object I’d say exemplifies it is the visitor book (pictured inset). Every person that comes through the door signs the book. We’ve had visitors from China, Australia and all over Europe, as well as locals, and they all say the same: it’s the lifeboat crews and volunteers that make them want to support the charity. Sometimes you hear a sad story about why somebody supports the lifeboats, but each person in that book has their own reason.

‘In March 2015, I was invited to attend a special St David’s Day reception at 10 Downing Street, where I met David Cameron. He’d already heard a lot about The Mumbles Station from the Secretary of State for Wales, who’d visited us before. It was an honour to be there, but really the whole team deserved that honour.’

'We checked 100 lifejackets: about 60 didn't work'

Sarah-Louise Rossiter is a volunteer RNLI Sea Safety Officer, and works for the Irish Sailing Association in between teaching powerboat and sailing skills at her boat club in Wexford. But what’s the tiny lifesaving object that plays a key part of her safety role?

‘Lifejacket checks are a huge part of my role. People don’t always know that you have to check them often, unpack them, and make sure you’ve got the right sort for what you’re doing. I met one man at a safety talk who was very proud to know all about lifejackets, and had kept the same one on him for 60 years. I asked if I could have a look so he opened it up for me. As he did, several bits fell off, before it half inflated, then deflated again with a sort of wheeze. I’m so glad he wasn’t in the sea when he discovered the state it was in.

‘The object that is surprisingly useful for me, given its size, is a firing head. It’s a little nugget of compressed salt (like a dishwasher tablet) that dissolves when you hit water, triggering the lifejacket inflation mechanism. It’s the best way to show people how their self-inflating lifejackets work – they have components that need replacing. One guy came to my safety stand at a fishing event, absolutely soaked from having fallen in, complaining his lifejacket hadn’t worked when he hit the water. Turns out he’d got a manual inflation one but didn’t realise. At the same event, we checked 100 lifejackets and about 60 didn’t work properly – they would have been pretty useless in the water. There are often eye-openers like that. They make you realise that you are making a huge difference.’

‘My kayak never failed me’
In Summer 2015, fundraiser Nick Ray travelled 2,015 miles around all our 47 Scottish lifeboat stations. He’s raised more than £5,000 to date. His solo trip started at Kippford on the Solway Firth, travelling clockwise before finishing in Eyemouth 4 months later – all under his own steam, using his trusty kayak.

‘I read Nicholas Leach’s excellent book The Lifeboat Service in Scotland: Station by Station and it occurred to me that a similar trip would be a good excuse to fulfil my ambition of circumnavigating the Scottish coastline.

‘On average, I covered about 20 miles a day but my longest stint was 45 miles. There was an initial bit of doubt about whether the trip would be possible, but my kayak never failed me, even in awful conditions like 2m swell around the west coast of the Orkneys. She’s a Nigel Dennis-designed Explore, and I’ve named her Sahwira, which means ‘lifelong friend’ in Shona (I’m from Zimbabwe). By the end, I was actually talking to her, congratulating her on tackling tough bits and greeting her every morning. She’s the object I’ve chosen, but the supporting safety kit was essential too – I had a VHF, personal locator beacon, flares and a satellite tracker.

‘Sometimes it was lonely out there. Even with the best planning in the world you think “what if …” but you have to trust your kit and push on when you can. There were many highlights too though, like rounding Cape Wrath on a sunny day. It’s this hugely iconic, majestic headland just looming out into the ocean. The Vikings used it to navigate and there I was with my little kayak, doing the same.

‘Towards the end of my trip, the lifeboat stations had begun tracking my progress and actually coming out to meet me. Beers were bought for me, dinners were cooked, places to crash for the night offered – it was all hugely touching. I have infinite admiration for the lifeboat volunteers, who never judge people who get into trouble, and for the extended network of families, shore crews, fundraisers, support teams and so on. I was glad to know they were all there for me.’

Words: Laura Rainbow, Photos: RNLI/Nathan Williams, Adrian Don, Connor Thomas,
Micheline Murphy, Nick Ray

IS THERE AN RNLI VOLUNTEER ROLE FOR YOU?
More than 35,000 volunteers contribute their time, energy and skills to support the RNLI. From lifeboat crew members to shop assistants, from education presenters to office administrators, there is a huge range of RNLI volunteer roles and opportunities that can make the most of your skills, experience and interests. To get involved, please visit RNLI.org.uk/volunteer or email [email protected].