April 2022 Meeting - The Royal National Lifeboat Institute

Geoff Vian of the RNLI is based in Portishead.

First he told us what the RNLI means – R is for Royal as the Queen is the Patron; N for National because the charity operates throughout the UK plus all of Ireland; L is for Lifeboat and I for Institution where the aim is to save lives at sea, on the coast and on some of our inland waters such as The Thames.

It was formed in 1824 by Sir William Hillary who lived on the Isle of Man.  The area was well known for its dangerous waters and the many wrecks with loss of lives that occurred there.  Originally the boats used were open boats with just oars then sails and finally the addition of air chambers either end of the boats which allowed the boats to turn easily. The crew wore southwesters and cork lifejackets.  It was an extremely dangerous thing to undertake. There are 238 lifeboat stations around UK and Eire and the newest one is at Portishead which was adopted by the RNLI 7 years ago.  Previously Portishead had the Portishead Lifeboat Trust based in Sugarloaf Bay however when the Marina opened the volume of traffic and therefore incidents increased and the Trust couldn’t cope alone.  Although we have this wonderful facility helped by the RNLI, Portishead still needed to raise funds towards it.

It cost £181 million to run everything in 2020.  They raise funds through shops, charity events, legacies and bequests. The Portishead Lifeboat ‘My Lady Anne’ cost £215,000 and was purchased through the generosity of a Mr Wraith in memory of his wife Anne. All lifeboat stations have lifeboats best suited to their area and Portishead has the ‘Lady Anne’ a D class which can do 35 knots when the water is calm. Portishead Station covers from the top end of the Bristol Channel, from Clevedon and back up the Severn. There are 4 bridges so unfortunately, they are called out to suicide recoveries as well as problems on the water.

They are all volunteers at Portishead; all with full time jobs.  They must live within 10 minutes of the station and must be able to leave their jobs and families immediately to get down to the lifeboat.  Some crew the lifeboat and some are shore crew who make sure the boat is ready at all times.  They train twice a week on a Tuesday evening and Sunday morning.  The RNLI also has its own college at Poole in Dorset and you can stay there at weekends when the building works as a B&B.

In 2020, there were 8239 lifeboat launches with 8374 people aided throughout UK/Eire.  239 lives were saved during lockdown even when everyone was supposed to be at home. The RNLI also coordinates lifeguards on 40 beaches (yellow tops and red bottoms).  They are the best trained and it is worth looking for beaches where they are based if on your holidays.  They have inflatable boats, surf boards, jet ski’s and sleds. They control people going in and out of the water through the use of flags - red means stay out of the water; red and yellow – stay between the flags as the area is patrolled; white/black same as for red/yellow but for surfers/jet skiers.  There were 10687 lifeguard incidents in 2020 with 110 lives saved. Another of their important jobs is education especially the young, visiting school or having youngsters visit the lifeboat station. If you find yourself in difficulty in the water, wave for help with a clenched fist as opposed to an open hand.