
Littlestone RNLI Father & Son Go Afloat Together For The First Time
Littlestone RNLI’s volunteer crew launched their Atlantic 85 Jean McIvor on Saturday morning (Saturday 2nd November 2024) with father and son Peter and Sam Leigh on the lifeboat.
Under the guidance of experienced Littlestone RNLI duty crew (Peter Leigh, Ryan Wicken, Iain Anderson and Ron Thrall) the charity lifeboat was launched on exercise on Saturday 2nd November 2024 to take shore crew members afloat on acquaintance trips. As the name suggests, these trips are to help get volunteers acquainted with the realities of going to sea in a lifeboat. The volunteers who went on Saturday’s trips included, Sarah Thompson, Mark Owen, Mihaela Simeonova, John Thurgood and Sam Leigh. Our shore crew was under the direction of Rob Saunders, and Ian Roberts was duty Launch Authority.
Peter Leigh, currently Littlestone’s longest-serving volunteer helm, said: ‘We took the opportunity on Saturday to take five experienced shore crew members afloat. This gives them a taste of the conditions likely to face them when the lifeboat is launched on service and helps crew members make a decision if they want to move from shore to boat. ’
The team undertook several drills, which provided opportunity for some helming experience, climbing into and out of the lifeboat in the water, deployment of lifejackets and general seamanship skills .
‘We had five volunteers take it in turns to come afloat and one of them was my son Samuel. It was an immensely proud moment for me as it is 35 years since I first went on the Littlestone RNLI lifeboat with my dad Pat. I have such strong memories of volunteering with my own father so it’s a great privilege to now be joined afloat by my son.’
Samuel, who is a first year student at the London School of Economics, said ‘It’s become a real family tradition to volunteer for the RNLI, and I am so pleased to be following in the footsteps of my grandad and dad. I’ve had some fantastic shore-based training and now I’m looking forward to progressing onto the boat crew training in my university holidays.’
Ryan Wicken, Helm at Littlestone RNLI, said: ‘Being on the crew means being available to respond to the pager. It also means joining regular training exercises and contributing to the overall upkeep of the station, lifeboat and equipment.’
Peter Leigh continued, ‘After an hour and a half of exercises in the bay we returned to Station, but the work doesn’t stop there. As we washed down the lifeboat and kit and refuelled, I thought about my family and the families of all our crew and how it’s only possible for us to do this essential lifesaving work with the support of our nearest and dearest.’
Littlestone RNLI are currently recruiting new volunteer crew to join their inclusive team.
If you live or work within 12-minutes of Littlestone Lifeboat station and have the flexibility to be on call for lifeboat ‘shouts’ either during the day or at night please get in touch. You will need to be able to attend regular training exercises for roles either onshore or afloat. The RNLI really is like a second family and our work in savings lives at sea gives immense satisfaction and purpose to volunteers.
Find out how to volunteer and apply by emailing [email protected]
Find out how to support us:
https://rnli.org/support-us/rnli-200-appeal
Notes for the editor
Jean McIvor– Littlestone-On-Sea RNLI’s Atlantic class Inshore Lifeboat
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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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