Orkney Deaf Children's Society visit RNLI Longhope Lifeboat station.
Crew members promote Respect the Water campaign.
RNLI Longhope recently had the great pleasure of spending a few hours with some wonderful children and their families from the Orkney Deaf Children's Society. Their first port of call was our lifeboat museum at Brims before coming along to the station to meet some of the crew.
It was during this time that a parent asked: 'What should we do if we fall into the sea'? Our Coxswain Kevin Kirkpatrick took time to carefully explain the dangers and safety procedures to follow when near or in water and each family were grateful to receive some children's visual aids, a pamphlet and promotional items from the Respect the Water campaign.
With lifejackets safely donned the group were then shown around our lifeboat. The children were particularly excited and seemed to really enjoy being inside the boat and having a go at sitting in the Coxswain's seat, while looking very knowledgeable at all the computer screens and finally trying on the headphones.
One of the aims of this very valuable society is to raise awareness in order to reduce vulnerability and feelings of isolation. Maybe through excursions like this we can contribute in some small way towards this aim and it seems to me that the society is doing a sterling job.
We thoroughly enjoyed their visit and we would like to thank everyone involved and hope we can build on this friendship and that they will all come to Longhope again.
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The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.
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