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Mikes 51years of service at Whitstable RNLI

Lifeboats News Release

The RNLI is a charity that relies on the dedication of its volunteers and staff and it goes without saying that every lifeboat station around our shores is manned by people who all fit that description, whether they have served for long or short periods.

Mike Judge who has served over 50 years at Whitstable RNLI.

RNLI/Chris Davey

Mike Judge who has served over 50 years at Whitstable RNLI.
At Whitstable, one of those who fits into the longstanding category is Lifeboat Operations Manager Mike Judge. However, from the 1st of February, Mike handed over the role of operations manager to Kellie Gray, but he will continue to serve as a Launching Authority.

During his 51 years of service to the RNLI at Whitstable, Mike must have lost count of the number of times he has answered the call to help launch, crew or helm the lifeboat and now as Lifeboat Operations Manager overseeing operations at the station.

Looking back on his years with the RNLI, he recalls that as a teenager he was always around the station because his father, Mike Judge Snr, was one of the founder members back in 1963. Like so many others in the true tradition of the institution, he followed him into the service.

“I started officially as an 18-year-old in 1974 and, as I was working as a fisherman at the time, went straight into the boat, which was one of the D-class lifeboats with which the station was initially equipped”.

Mike served as crew for the next six years before being made up to Helm. “By this time, we had received the first of the Atlantic or B-class lifeboats based at the station and I later helmed or crewed on subsequent class types, ‘British Diver’ and ‘Oxford Town and Gown’

Of the hundreds of 'shouts' in which he's participated, he recalls the most memorable as one in 1994 to “A 50-foot motor cruiser aground on the Margate Hook in a south-westerly gale when the lifeboat towed the stricken craft off the sandbank. Then in January 1995, when acting as crew for my brother Richard who was helmsman, I went aboard a coaster that had been grounded and was awash off of the Isle of Sheppey after she started taking on water in a severe gale. Perhaps the most unusual shout was to a Norwegian seaplane that had landed off Seasalter and then went up The Swale to Milton Creek in search of a mooring in darkness. We assisted it by having it follow us back to Harty Ferry and then towed it onto a mooring”.

Mike was also at the helm in January 1999 when the lifeboat capsized just off the harbour after launching in gale force wind and rough seas to assist angling boats in difficulty of Herne Bay. Along with crew members Paul Kemp and Andy Williams, he was thrown into the water but they managed to right the lifeboat and Mike reboard her in an attempt to restart the engines; however, before this could be completed the boat and two other crew were washed up on the beach amongst the breakwaters east of the harbour. Fortunately, without injury or serious damage to the lifeboat, the incident made national news and highlighted the risks taken by RNLI volunteers.

Regarding his years of service Mike says, “Whilst it is very gratifying to receive recognition for long service as a volunteer, it must be stressed that there is often little such acclaim for those that support us in the background from home. Turning out at all hours cannot help but impact family members living in the same household, whether by disrupting sleep or ruining meals that have had to be abandoned. There can often be an element of stress involved waiting for a safe return from a long or dangerous call”.

He continues, “In my earlier years, it was my mother who had to live with a husband and then three sons (brothers Perry and Richard) who were running out the door in the middle of Sunday lunch or into the night, but since marrying, the burden of support has fallen to my wife, Rita, who has had plenty of family activity turned on its head at short notice. For that, l thank them and all the other families supporting our volunteers”.

Mike has stood down as the Operations Manager at Whitstable but will continue for a while as a Launch Authority to assist the new incumbent of that role, but few at Whitstable believe that Mike will not continue to be part of the station for some time yet!

Jason Carroll, RNLI Area Life Saving Manager said of Mike “I would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Mike Judge for his extraordinary 50- year career with the RNLI. In that time, Mike has held roles from shore crew to lifeboat operations manager. Mike's unwavering dedication, bravery, and selflessness have been an exemplary beacon of the RNLI’s values. His tireless efforts and commitment to saving lives at sea have not only left an indelible mark on Whitstable lifeboat station and the volunteers there but also on the community it serves. On behalf of the entire RNLI family, we thank you, Mike, for your remarkable service and the profound, positive impact you have made during your 50 years of service. Your legacy will continue to inspire future generations of lifesavers at Whitstable Lifeboat Station.”


Notes to editors

Whitstable RNLI Lifeboat Station was established in 1963 by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and is one of 237 lifeboat stations around the shores of the UK and Ireland. The volunteer crews provide a maritime search and rescue service for the Kent coast. They cover the area between the Kingsferry Bridge on the Swale, in the west, around the south-eastern side of Sheppey and along the coast through Whitstable and Herne Bay to Reculver in the east and outwards into the Thames Estuary.

The station is equipped with an Atlantic 85 lifeboat named Lewisco, purchased through a bequest of a Miss Lewis of London who passed away in 2006.

She is what is known as a rigid inflatable inshore lifeboat, the boat’s rigid hull being topped by an inflatable sponson. She carries a crew of four people.

RNLI media contacts

· Chris Davey, Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer, Whitstable Lifeboat Station.
07741 012004/
[email protected]

Julie Rainey - Regional Communications Lead : 07827 358256

Hatti Mellor - Regional Communications Manager :07724 801305

For enquiries outside normal business hours, contact the RNLI duty press officer on 01202 336789


Mike Judge in 1983.

RNLI/Chris Davey

Mike Judge in 1983.
Mike Judge (Second from top) onboard one of the station's Atlantic 21 lifeboats

RNLI/Mike Judge.

Mike Judge (Second from top) onboard one of the station's Atlantic 21 lifeboats
Mike meets Donald Cogan, Archbishop of Canterbury.

RNLI/Chris Davey

Mike meets Donald Cogan, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Mike Judge in his earlier days as part of the Whitstable lifeboat crew.

Mike Judge.

Mike Judge in his earlier days as part of the Whitstable lifeboat crew.

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.

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