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Platinum Jubilee medals presented at RNLI Lerwick

Lifeboats News Release

Members of RNLI Lerwick Lifeboat have today received The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee medal, including crew, management team and shore based volunteers who had completed more than five years service as of 6th February 2022.

Group photo on pier in Lerwick, beside lifeboat, with Deputy Lord Lieutenant Iain Tulloch on left, with lifeboat crew members in shirt and tie, each holding their Queen's Platinum Jubilee medals

RNLI

Iain Tulloch, Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Shetland (left) today presented Queen's Platinum Jubilee medals to members of RNLI Lerwick - (from second left): Grant Masson, Michael Grant, Malcolm Craigie, Ian Harms, Gareth Geddes, Ryan Leith and John Best.
Across the RNLI, 4,500 volunteers and frontline staff have been awarded the special commemorative Platinum Jubilee medal in recognition of the 69,212 lives the charity has saved during Her Majesty’s 70-year reign.

As well as RNLI volunteers and frontline staff, those who serve in the emergency services, prison services and Armed Forces who have completed five years consecutive service will also receive the award.

When Princess Elizabeth became Queen in 1952, she also became patron of the RNLI, continuing a lifesaving legacy left by the charity’s first patron King George IV. The new commemorative medal, follows a tradition of using medals to mark The Queen’s Jubilees, with the first one awarded to mark the 50th year of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1887.

Medals were presented in Lerwick today by Iain Tulloch, Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Shetland, who has also had a 30-year personal involvement with Lerwick Lifeboat. He was crew member from 1980 for 20 years, and a further ten years as shore crew, acting first as Honorary Secretary and Deputy Launching Authority.

Receiving medals today were: crew members Gareth Geddes, Grant Masson, Michael Grant; Mechanic Ian Harms; Deputy Mechanic John Best; Lifeboat Operations Manager Malcolm Craigie; and Deputy Launch Authority Ryan Leith.

Also eligible, but unable to attend: Resilience Coxswain Darren Harcus; Second Coxswain Tommy Goudie; Second Mechanic Sammy Drummond; Third Mechanic Marcus Thomason; and crew members Peter Kerr and Jacqui Murray.

Mark Dowie, RNLI Chief Executive, said: “My congratulations and thanks go to all the recipients and our thousands of other volunteers and staff who work tirelessly to deliver our essential lifesaving services”

Close up of Queens Platinum Jubilee medal

RNLI

Close up of Queens Platinum Jubilee medal
Queen's Platinum Jubilee medals laid out before the presentation on an RNLI flag on a table

RNLI

Queen's Platinum Jubilee medals laid out before the presentation

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.

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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.

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