Yea brave lads indeed, but did you know it is one of the most over subscribed charities out there.
Not trying to take anything away from the lads that selfishly put there lives on the line.
I lived in Hoylake Wirral were we have an RNLI life boat, recently they had a new lifeboat station built at a cost of over £2 million. There is a childrens Hospice not far away Claire House and they struggle to keep going. Along the Wirral coastline there are three RNLI stations New Brighton has a RIB, Hoylake has a Mersey class lifeboat, West Kirby has a RIB, that is three sets of kit that has to be maintained. The Hoylake boat is pulled across the beach on a specialised tractor unit. I really do think for our area that is over kill, RAF Valley is a 20 minute Helicopter (Search &Rescue).
I am certainly not having a go at the boat crews everyone a hero.
Oh 45 years as a merchant seaman so do actually know what bad weather is like.
Hit the post to soon,Lampwick, standby for incoming abuse.lol
Got to agree with the above, the crew do get paid, local lifeboat in Barry has to full time crew, on a bloody good deal, £65 a day for an in house course at sunny Poole for example,I never hear of the crews putting there monthly check back Into the pot, as a charity they waste more money than my Mrs at Xmas.
especially when you cant even control your own Mrs at Xmas!!
Whats even more impressive is that they are all volunteers. :thumbupAh!! all volunteers, it is easier to get into a masonic lodge.
Then maybe the air ambulance needs to take a leaf out the the RNLIs book. I dont get how you can knock the way its run if they are oversubscribed. Giving the blokes at the top BMWs is a small price to pay for the millions they are pulling in.Doddsie, I lived behind the RNLI station in Hoylake, there open lifeboat day is one of the biggest events in the local area. Trust me they get all the little old ladies out with there collecting tins and they all but mug you. We are all wearing tinted glasses when it comes to the RNLI. The old lifeboat station is now a lifeboat museum, property is owned by Peel Holdings. It is a charity and they were paying a pepper corn rent for the property. The RNLI put pressure on Peel Holdings to get the Museum closed as they said it was having an impact on the funds they were raising over the year. Now I am not saying the museum saves lives, but just pointing out the aggressive lengths the RNLI will go to. Can I ask if you have any connection with the RNLI or any connection with the Maritime industry.
They are a charity and the the purpose of any charity is to raise money for the cause and by your own admission, they are bloody good at it! One minute you say your not knocking the crews, then you say you never see the crew putting money into the coffers. According to you the crews get payed and are on a `bloody good deal` and you live behind the station so why are you not a lifeboat man??? You can say what you like, but most people would agree you dont need rose tinted glasses to see these blokes are real heroes which is what the original post was about.
Penlee lifeboat disaster
It carried a crew of five: Captain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_(naval)) Henry Morton;[2] Mate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Mate) James Whittaker, Engineer George Sedgwick, Crewman Anghostino Verressimo, and Crewman Manuel Lopes.[3] Also on board was the captain's family who had been picked up at an unauthorised stop on the east coast of England:[2] his wife Dawn and teenage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage) stepdaughters Sharon and Deanne.[3] Near the south coast of Cornwall, 8 miles (13 km) east of the Wolf Rock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Rock,_Cornwall), the new ship's engines failed.[1] She was unable to restart them but did not make a mayday (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayday_(distress_signal)) call.[2] Assistance was offered by a tug (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tug), the Noord Holland, under the Lloyd's Open Form (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd%27s_Open_Form) salvage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_salvage) contract but Morton initially refused the offer, later accepting after consulting his owners.[4] Winds were gusting at up to 90 knots (100 mph; 170 km/h) – hurricane (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane) force 12 on the Beaufort scale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale) – with waves up to 60 feet (18 m) high.[5] The powerless ship was blown across Mount's Bay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount%27s_Bay) towards the rocks of Boscawen Cove, near Lamorna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamorna).RNAS Sea King helicopter[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Penlee_lifeboat_disaster&action=edit§ion=2)]In light of the closeness of the ship to the beach, the Coastguard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Her_Majesty%27s_Coastguard) at Falmouth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falmouth,_Cornwall) summoned a Royal Navy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy) Sea King (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westland_Sea_King) helicopter from 771 Naval Air Squadron (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/771_Naval_Air_Squadron), RNAS Culdrose (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNAS_Culdrose). It used call sign "Rescue 80" during the mission. The aircraft (airframe XZ574) was flown that night by United States Navy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy) exchange-pilot Lt Cdr Russell Smith, assisted by Lt Steve Marlow, S/Lt Kenneth Doherty and Lacmn Martin Kennie of the Royal Navy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy).[6] However, due to the extreme wave conditions, they were unable to winch anyone off the ship.[2][7]RNLB Solomon Browne (ON 954)[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Penlee_lifeboat_disaster&action=edit§ion=3)]The Coastguard had difficulties contacting the secretary of the nearest lifeboat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifeboat_(rescue)), Penlee Lifeboat Station (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penlee_Lifeboat_Station) at Mousehole (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mousehole) on the west side of the bay. They eventually contacted Coxswain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coxswain) Trevelyan Richards and asked him to put the lifeboat on standby in case the helicopter rescue failed. He summoned the lifeboat's volunteer crew and picked seven men to accompany him in the lifeboat.[2] They were: Second Coxswain/Mechanic Stephen Madron, Assistant Mechanic Nigel Brockman, Emergency Mechanic John Blewett, crewmembers Charlie Greenhaugh, Kevin Smith, Barrie Torrie and Gary Wallis.[8] Neil Brockman, the son of Nigel Brockman, got to the lifeboat station on time, but was turned down for the trip by Trevelyan Richards, who was reluctant to take out two members of the same family that night.[8] The lifeboat launched at 8:12 pm and headed out through the storm to the drifting coaster.[1] The lifeboat was the Solomon Browne, a wooden 47-foot (14 m) Watson-class (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Watson-class_lifeboat&action=edit&redlink=1) boat built in 1960[9] and capable of 9 knots (17 km/h).[2] After it had made several attempts to get alongside, four people managed to jump across;[7] the captain's family and one of the men were apparently safe. The lifeboat radioed that 'we’ve got four off', but that was the last ever heard from anyone on either vessel.[2] Lt Cdr Smith USN, the pilot of the rescue helicopter later reported that:[10]
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