Volunteer Gerard honoured for 20 years’ service to Dunbar RNLI

Gerard, 61, joined as treasurer in 2005 after being encouraged to volunteer by his father Ivor McPhillips, who was then Dunbar station president. Gerard went on to serve on the lifeboat crew for three years from 2011 and since then has also performed the role of launch authority, helping to coordinate operations and liaising with the coastguard when the lifeboats are at sea.

Gerard said he didn’t hesitate when answering his father’s call to help. ‘At the time he was looking for a treasurer and knew I was pretty good with numbers. There was no question I wasn’t going to accept it,’ he said.

After Ivor sadly passed away in 2011, Gerard joined the crew and, among his more notable 'shouts’, helped save the lives of two divers in 2012 and a year earlier came to the aid of a whale trapped in lobster creels.

‘The divers had been swept away from their boat at Bass Rock,’ he said. ‘It was late at night and we were losing visibility but fellow crew member Dayna Dryer spotted a light and we found them. It was a really good outcome and a relief we were able to get them safely to shore.

‘The whale was like something out of Jaws because it was pulling the floats under and kept coming up at different locations before we eventually managed to free it.’

Gerard, a retired technical director of an engineering company, who has three children, Matthew, Michael and Joanna, with wife Cathy, told of another challenging tasking in September 2012: ‘We also went up the Forth during a huge storm to try and find a windsurfer reported missing near Cramond Island. On the way, the troughs were so big we lost sight of the Bass Rock. Some boats had broken their moorings and were being lashed on the shore. He was eventually found located alive and well by coastguards we got back safely but it was the most scared I’ve been on the boat,’ he added.

Ian Wilson, lifeboat operations manager for Dunbar, said: ‘Over 20 years, Gerard has proved himself to be a truly valuable asset to the lifeboat station and the community in Dunbar – enthusiastically contributing in a number of different roles to our lifesaving service. Thank you Gerard for 20 years of service, with many more years to come!’

Notes to editors

· Established in 1808, 16 years before the formation of the RNLI, Dunbar Lifeboat Station is one of the oldest in Scotland and is located on the south side of the mouth of the Firth of Forth.

· Since its formation, its volunteer crews have been honoured with 12 awards for gallantry.

· It operates two lifeboats – the Trent class all-weather lifeboat (ALB) John Neville Taylor, moored at Torness Power Station, and the D-class inshore lifeboat (ILB) David Lauder, which launches from Dunbar Harbour.

· A file photo of Dunbar’s lifeboats can be viewed here.

RNLI media contacts

Douglas Wight, Dunbar RNLI volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer, [email protected]

Alexander Williams, Dunbar RNLI volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer [email protected]

Richard Smith, RNLI Regional Communications Manager for Scotland, 07826 900639, [email protected]

Martin Macnamara, RNLI Regional Communications Lead for Scotland, 07920 365929, [email protected]

RNLI Press Office (available 24 hours) 01202 336789 [email protected]

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The RNLI is the charity that 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 146,700 lives.

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