Happisburgh Lifeboat Station awards and dinner dance

Over seventy-five people attended the dinner dance. After the meal the main purpose of the evening was to look back at 2018 before the band ‘The Invisible Band’ took to the stage.

The evening raised £750, through the Raffle and Auction for the RNLI. The charity depends on such donations to ensure that it can carry on with its vital role of saving lives at sea.

Cubitt Siely,RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager, thanked all the volunteers and supporters for all their help and support that they had given throughout 2018 to provide a 24/7 search and rescue service. This service relies on volunteers to help save lives.

Philip Smith, Chair of the Lifeboat Management Group, gave a roundup of 2018:

Happisburgh RNLI Lifeboat Station volunteers were called into action seven times in 2018. The Community Safety Team has been doing throw bag training for bars and restaurants that are situated near water in Norwich and around the Broads. This is part of the RNLI ‘Respect the Water’ campaign to reduce the number of deaths from drowning. The callouts included everything from engine problems, demasted yachts, inflatables, medical evacuation and dogs in the sea.'

Twelve volunteers sucessfully passed the RNLI Casualty Care course.

Bob Mann attended the Cenotaph in London:

He thanked:

· Paul Broomfield and Bob Mann for their work on the net trials being carried out for the RNLI.

· Tim Grimmer for all his support and that of his employer to allow him to be available to answer his pager at all times.

· Charlotte Siely, who has carried on with her work as helm and assessor so others are able to work through their training plan. She also continued with the station recruitment campaign. We are always looking for new volunteers to carry on our work of saving lives at sea.

· David Loveday and Sean Thurston who passed out on their crew plan and are now moving onto a Mechanics Plan (for David) a Helm Plan on a D Class (for Sean).

The RNLI is a charity and 2018 Lifeboat day and fete raised over £8,000.

The Kelvin Baker Achievement Award is in memory of Kelvin Baker who was a leading member of the Lifeboat, well respected for his professionalism and boat handing skills as a helmsman. He was taken from us on 17 March 2008, 11 years ago.

Kelly you are not forgotten and the Kelvin Baker achievement award lives on in your memory promoting the commitment and professionalism we like to think he would have approved of.

The Station decided that this year’s Kelvin Baker Achievement award should go to Steve Poll.

Steve Poll is part of our shore crew, which enables our boat to be launched and recovered safely. Steve has work hard and is always ready to help in any way; he has worked through his Shore Crew plan and is now working through his Head Launcher plan. Steve has had a bad year health wise but has still been there to support the rest of the shore crew.

The Service Award for Memorable Service was not awarded for 2018 as No service warranted this award in 2018.

Key facts about the RNLI

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.

Learn more about the RNLI

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Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries

Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 (UK) or 1800 991802 (Ireland) or by email.