Donate now
Focus on our fantastic volunteers: Training to save lives at sea
Today, Thursday 15 October, marks World Values Day. The theme for this year’s campaign is Values and Volunteering – celebrating using our values by being of service to others in whichever way we can. We’ve rounded up just some of the stories of our volunteers putting these values into practice and marking milestones in their training journeys over the past month.
At Largs, volunteers Claire McRae and Jennifer Flavell have both successfully passed out as Shore Crew. Both women are already dedicated members of the Largs Lifeboat Station team, volunteering as Lifeboat Press Officer and inshore lifeboat crew respectively, and can now add launching and recovering the station’s B class lifeboat to their volunteer duties.
An amazing seven volunteers at Teddington RNLI celebrated success in September, passing out to take on critical operational roles as navigators and head launchers.
Flamborough RNLI now has two more highly qualified volunteers to call on, as Diane Johnson and Richard Hockney both successfully achieved their Tier 1 pass out after months of hard work.
Speaking following her achievement, Diane said: ‘It has taken a lot of hard work and commitment over the last three years, so it’s a great feeling to have finally achieved my Tier 1 pass out. I am very grateful to everyone at the station who has supported and encouraged me along the way, and I am looking forward to continuing my journey with the crew.’
At Blackpool, volunteer crew members Hannah and Lorraine recently qualified as Navigators for the station’s Atlantic 85. After months of hard work, both took on theory tests, before heading out to sea in some challenging conditions for operational assessments under the watchful eye of Coastal Trainer Ben.
And Littlehampton RNLI is marking the appointment of its youngest Head Launcher, after volunteer Josh Bruford passed out in the role just one day after his 21st birthday.
Josh said: ‘I'm so pleased to have qualified as Head Launcher and I’d like to thank everyone at Littlehampton RNLI who helped with my training. Volunteering as shore crew is such a rewarding experience. I’d recommend it to anyone. I hope my achievement and the continued dedication and commitment of all the volunteers at our lifeboat station encourages others to volunteer, too.’
Our congratulations go to all of our volunteers marking milestones in their training, and their continued dedication to ensuring they have the most up-to-date skills and knowledge to help us save lives at sea.
If you’ve been inspired by these stories to begin your own volunteering journey, there is a wealth of information available about the volunteer roles offered by the RNLI on our volunteering pages.