Three volunteer crew members from Kinghorn RNLI lifeboat station have had a vital part of their crew training funded by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation.
We are funding the sea survival element of trainee crew courses for a five year period from January 2011 to December 2015. This additional funding of nearly £1M brings our total support to just over £1.5M.
Craig Stokes, Richard Malcomson and Robert Rutherford, all from Kinghorn, recently travelled to the RNLI College in Poole, Dorset, to complete the charity’s Trainee Crew Course. A key part of that course is the sea survival element, which enables new volunteer crew to be trained in a variety of crucial subjects including how to ‘abandon ship’ with a 4-metre jump into water; team survival swimming and coping in a liferaft in simulated darkness; how to deal with fires aboard lifeboats; how to right a capsized inshore lifeboat; and the importance of lifejackets.
Training took place in the Sea Survival Centre at the RNLI College in Poole, which includes a 25-metre long wave-generating survival tank, allowing trainees to experience first-hand some of the scenarios they may encounter at sea should they ever need to abandon their lifeboat.
Talking about the training, Craig Stokes, who volunteers as a crewmember, said: ‘the training we have received in Poole is fantastic. The facility is outstanding, and the skills we learn here will help keep our volunteer crews safe whilst we save life at sea.’
RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager at Kinghorn, Paul Wibberley said: ‘The support given by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation is hugely important to the RNLI. We are extremely grateful that it has chosen to fund sea survival training, which teaches vital core skills to our volunteer crew.
‘This training is central to allowing the RNLI and its volunteers to stay safe while on rescue missions. It equips volunteers with essential sea survival skills; providing them with the courage, poise and self-confidence to save lives even in the most perilous seas.’
This donation is just the latest in the LRF’s relationship with the RNLI, which was recognised in 2010 when it received the Group Supporter Award from HRH Prince Michael of Kent in recognition of its valuable support of the charity.
This video shows a training session within the RNLI’s sea survival pool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X7Q0WLYNDk.
For more information on the RNLI please visit www.rnli.org.uk.
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 237 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and has more than 200 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK. 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 140,000 lives.
