Author: Colin Bower, Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer, Torbay
Volunteer crew members from Exmouth and Torbay lifeboat stations launched overnight to a tug that had been holed and was taking on water.
At around 9.30 pm on Sunday 13 January a major incident sparked off when the 70 metre tug Chritstos XXII was damaged by the boat it was towing.
On 15 December, the Exmouth and Budleigh Salterton fundraising guild held their annual carol service. Volunteers from the guild presented retiring guild secretary, Maureen Chandler with a framed photo.
The carol service was held at Tower Street Methodist Church on a cold, wet evening. Reverend Beth McDowell welcomed and introduced the service which comprised carols and readings. Volunteer Deputy Coxswain Steve Hockings-Thompson paraded the charity’s standard. Readings from the Bible, poems and short stories were read by RNLI volunteers from the lifeboat crew, shop and the fundraising guild. Reverend McDowell ended the service with an emotional reading of The Lifeboat Prayer. Despite being a modest service attended by around 40 people, over £100 was raised in collection buckets.Brixham coastguard tasked Exmouth inshore lifeboat George Bearman at 11 pm on 9 December, on a dark and mild night. The call-out followed a mobile phone call from two stranded fishermen on Bull Hill Bank in the Exe estuary. The two men had been travelling to their...
Brixham coastguard tasked both the Exmouth and Teignmouth lifeboats on the night of 6 December to assist an 8.4m netter taking on water between Dawlish and Exmouth.
The Exmouth all weather Mersey-class lifeboat Margaret Jean was launched at 9.58pm, minutes after the Atlantic inshore lifeboat The Two Annes from Teignmouth, in a collaborated rescue. The fishing boat was in danger of sinking three-quarters of a mile east of Langstone Rock, off Dawlish. Teignmouth lifeboat was launched first due to the location of the vessel and the speed of the Atlantic. However, it took 38 minutes and three attempts to locate the netter due to problems with the on-board navigation system. The three casualties from the netter were transferred to Teignmouth lifeboat for safety.
On 22 and 24 November, volunteers from the Exmouth and Budleigh Salterton fundraising guild ran two successful annual events during gale force winds and widespread flooding.
On 22 November, the Exe Sailing Club hosted a cheese and wine evening organised by club social secretary Mary Fagan. During the evening, Vice Commodore Dave Preston handed over a cheque for £666 to Exmouth RNLI Coxswain, Tim Mock. This amount had been collected throughout the year by the sailing club. The event was attended by over 120 people, including volunteer RNLI crew (past and present), RNLI officers and sailing club members. In addition to the cheque, the life-saving charity raised £290 on the night by way of raffle and admission tickets. The souvenir stall, run by the two Margarets was very busy, taking nearly £200.
On 18 November, Exmouth-born Rebecca Newman returned to the stage she performed her first ever solo as a child, this time as a rising star soprano. Rebecca is raising money for the charity that saves lives at sea during her Coast to Coast Tour.
Brixham coastguard tasked Exmouth RNLI to stop a drifting cruising yacht on 13 November at 5.31pm. The inshore lifeboat George Bearman with three crew volunteers aboard found the unmanned vessel on the river Exe, by the railway at Lympstone. The 23 foot cruiser broke...
The last of three Exmouth RNLI volunteers to tie the knot this summer, Mark “Max” Champion married Victoria on 8 September at Deer Park, Honiton. Earlier this summer, Mark received the Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum for the role he played in the rescue of four young men in October 2011.
Splash Swim school hosted a gala style mini-Olympics on 19 October, raising £145 for Exmouth RNLI. Splash Swim school teachers and parents volunteered their time to host a competitive event at Middlemoor giving children from as young as four, the opportunity to compete in swimming races.
26 children attended and all received a medal for entry, competing in the main strokes: front crawl; back crawl; butterfly and breaststroke. Depending on their age and ability, the competitors raced half lengths, full lengths, two lengths and took part in a fun woggle race. Points were earned for first, second and third places and the swimmer with the most points in each age category won a plaque, with the top three swimmers receiving certificates.
Students and teachers visited Exmouth RNLI on 22 October, one month on from when they raised money to remember Harry Patch and the role he played in World War one. Students raised £360.64 from a cake bake, poetry writing and creating a montage portrait of Harry Patch from a number of photos of him as a young soldier.
Harry Patch was the last surviving soldier known to have fought in the trenches of the first World War and briefly the oldest man in Europe. He fought at the Battle of Passchendaele and was injured in the groin when a shell exploded overhead on 22 September 1917. It killed three of his comrades, he was only 19. Patch referred to 22 September as his personal Remembrance Day.Brixham coastguard tasked Exmouth RNLI inshore lifeboat, George Bearman on 22 October. A call from a fishing vessel reported a sunken boat between the channel buoys, just off Maer rocks. Volunteer Deputy Launching Authority, Dave Ashman launched the three-man crew at...
Exmouth will be one of the first lifeboat stations in the country to receive an innovative new class of RNLI lifeboat, the Shannon.
The new £1.5m lifeboat will replace Exmouth’s current RNLI Mersey class lifeboat, Margaret Jean, when she completes her operational time in Devon in around 12 months time. The cost of the new lifeboat will be met by a legacy but an appeal is starting today (Monday 15 October) to help fund the new launching and recovery vehicle that is essential to move the lifeboat to and from the sea.
Exmouth RNLI’s new lifejackets were put into practice on Saturday 6 October. Funded entirely by donations, both inshore and all-weather lifeboat designs had been delivered in August.
It took a month for the crew to familiarise themselves with the new kit before using them under emergency conditions. Each crew volunteer was individually trained and had to be able to demonstrate the correct use, repacking and maintenance of both types of lifejacket before the station could change over from the old designs.
The first of three Exmouth RNLI volunteers to tie the knot this summer, Andrew Stott (35) is in his sixteenth year as a crew member at Exmouth RNLI.
He joined the crew following his older brother, Karl and was subsequently followed by his twin brother, Roy. During his service he has received the Golden Jubilee medal and more recently the Queens Diamond Jubilee medal. Andrew now works in maritime security as a coxswain of an armed patrol vessel in the Middle East, as do his brothers.
Helmsman Roger Jackson was presented with The Lady Swaythling Trophy at the Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society’s annual Skill and Gallantry Awards, which recognise the UK’s unsung heroes who risk their lives in dangerous sea and air rescues, on October 2.
This award follows the presentation of Roger’s RNLI bronze medal for Gallantry in May for the same rescue, which took place on October 23, 2011. Roger’s fellow crew volunteers Mark Champion and Andy Williams received the thanks of the Institution on Vellum during a ‘thank you’ meal, cooked by Roger at the boathouse in July.
Roger’s second award, this time granted by an outside body, demonstrates the recognition of the skill and gallantry that RNLI crew volunteers display every day, throughout the UK.