Girvan RNLI Crewmember celebrates wedding anniversary week in liferaft

Here at Girvan RNLI We're currently participating in our 200 hour float challenge, where our crew to coincide with the 200th birthday of the RNLI, our bicentenery year tried to come up with unique ways to fundraise and tie it in with RNLI200.

The answer from our crew is we would continually man a liferaft donated by Ocean Safety in Girvan Harbour afloat for 200 hours and our treasurer and fundraising manager John Tait ran with it, starting on July 24th at 10:24am and finishing on the 1st of August at 18:24 of course 1824 being the year the Royal National Lifeboat Institution was formed.

There is 2 persons aboard the raft at all times for 8 days and 8 hours made up of crew, fundraisers, station staff and family to fill all the slots, daytime shifts are 4 hours and the overnight shift is 8 hours.

Tonight on the evening of the 3rd Night John is crewing the liferaft with his wife Lindsay for 8 hours, this is no ordinary week as this week is John and Lindsays 14th Wedding Anniversary and rather than head out for a nice meal at the weekend they've chose to spend it afloat raising money for Girvan Lifeboat entering the raft at 22:24 they will be afloat until 06:24 on Saturday Morning.

John who has been on the crew here at Girvan for 20 years said about spending their time together floating about the harbour in lifeboat yellows and a life vest " The wife wanted a cruise to celebrate our anniversary, so this is the best I could do. Partners and spouses are so supportive of the roles and sacrifices we make so to share this experience together raising funds for the RNLI is something we’ll remember. "

And Lindsay who is also a part of our fundraising team added " Being on the liferaft last night and seeing the guys run along the jetty at midnight to launch the lifeboat and head to sea, without thought for themselves or fear, no matter the time of day or night or conditions, remind us of why we are doing the float, to raise money and keep saving lives at sea, spending tonight together in the raft was definitely a unique way to celebrate our anniversary week and one we wont forget in a hurry"

We of course couldn't let it go unnoticed and our team left a card and some chocolates in the raft to greet them on their special night.

Here at Girvan Lifeboat Station, we'd like to thank John and Lindsay and congratulate them on their wedding Anniversary and we cant think of a more unique way to celebrate their anniversary than floating about on the water.

You can support John and Lindsay by donating using our unique RNLI200FLOAT Justgiving link here

https://www.justgiving.com/team/girvanlifeboat200float?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2QYtjStcLvc-QrQMTSu0w22-oIpd0Cd6yfOcS5OsDAdBRe48uY7A8w5Ws_aem_YbHA7jOXitQ_mT_EnExJVg

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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