
Have lifejacket, will travel
Minehead lifeboat crew member Richard Huish has just achieved his life’s ambition - securing a full-time job with the RNLI.
And not just any job: the 36-year old volunteer has been appointed to one of the most high-profile posts in the entire lifeboat service - that of a Thames Commander.
Next month he joins a team of eight full-time crew and 40 volunteers who provide round-the-clock emergency cover at Gravesend, one of four stations the RNLI maintains on the Thames.
And, he says: “I am absolutely over the moon,”
The father of two, who currently works as an emergency care assistant, will be the second member of the Gravesend team to have come up through the ranks at Minehead: Karla Thresher, the first woman to take command of a Minehead lifeboat, secured a similar posting last August.
Like Karla, Richard will be rostered for four-day duty tours but will remain a volunteer at Minehead whenever he returns home.
He joined the Minehead crew 12 years ago, eventually passing out as helm on both the station’s D class and Atlantic 85 boats.
Although he is well used to coping with the treacherous tides and currents along the 30-mile stretch of the Bristol Channel coast covered from Minehead he says he will encounter a different set of challenges at Gravesend, where rescue missions are carried out along a 26-mile stretch of the river downstream from the tidal barrier to Sea Reach.
“It’s a heavily industrialised area with a lot more commercial shipping - a big contrast with what we normally deal with at Minehead,” said Richard.
“Obviously there’s a lot still to learn about the operational area but I can’t wait to get started: I have been wanting to work for the RNLI full-time almost since I first joined the Minehead crew.”
RNLI local operations manager at Minehead Dr John Higgie said everyone at the station was delighted for Richard.
“It’s not the kind of job you can just walk into: it’s a highly responsible position and one only people with the right level of training and ability can hold down,” he said.
“It says a lot about the RNLI that people like Richard and Karla, who join with little or no seagoing experience, can be trained up to professional standards - and equally their appointments say a lot about the general level of ability of the Minehead crew.
“Equally, we are particularly grateful that Richard will remain a highly-valued member of our team in between his duty tours at Gravesend.”
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
For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. News releases, videos and photos are available on the News Centre.
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.