Weston RNLI Lifeboat Station is looking for more volunteers to help on shore and afloat.

Weston RNLI Lifeboat station is holding a Recruitment Morning on Sunday October 9th to allow potential new crew & shore helpers to find out more.

Weston Lifeboat Station is looking to recruit new volunteer crew to man the boats, help launch the lifeboats, recover them and make them ready for service again.

Do you want to join our Operational Rescue Team?

Imagine for a moment that you have gone out for the evening for a meal with your best friends at your favourite pub / restaurant. The waiter has just put your meal down in front of you and you have just taken the first bite of what promises to be a fantastic meal. Your pager goes off. You have to put down your knife and fork, forego your meal and time out with your mates and immediately head down to the lifeboat station to launch the lifeboat. A sailing vessel is in difficulties 3 miles out at sea!

And you still want to volunteer for this?

Anyone interested must be physically fit and enjoy hard physical work. They must live and work locally in the Weston area and be available 24 hours a day 7 days a week to answer the call when required. This does not mean of course that you can never leave Weston again, simply that you are available the majority of the time! If you are employed then you must have the support of your employer to leave work if an emergency call comes during working hours. You must be a team player, be accepted by the rest of the team and be able to commit to attend the majority of training sessions on Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings.

The station's Operations Manager Pete Holder said ‘We are a dedicated team who work well together in our role of saving lives at sea. Being able to work as a team is more important than any other skill.’ He went on to say that ‘experience is not necessary, all training will be provided. Commitment, team spirit, flexibility and keenness are however essential!’

Weston Lifeboat Station is holding an open morning on Sunday 9th October. Anyone interested in being considered for the shore crew or the boat crew is welcome to come along and meet the station team to find out more about what is involved. The morning will start at 10 am with a welcome briefing and then you will be shown round the station and given an opportunity to meet the team and ask questions. Those who are still interested may be given a trial period at the station to see if they fit in and if they still want to continue with the training.

Access to the lifeboat station on Birnbeck Island is restricted so more details about the open morning and how to attend is available at www.westonrnli.org.uk.

Background

Based on Birnbeck Island, Weston-super-Mare RNLI station has two inshore lifeboats. An Atlantic 75 called Coventry and Warwickshire and a D Class lifeboat called Anna Stock. It is the busiest station in the Bristol Channel and deals with incidents ranging from sinking vessels out in the Channel to people cut off by the tide on the rocks. 

Both Weston's lifeboats sit on trailers that are connected to specially adapted all terrain tractors. These vehicles, that are capable of going into the water themselves, manoeuvre the boats and trailers down a concrete slipway on to the foreshore and directly into the water. We need to strengthen our team of afloat crew as well as people to drive the tractors, supervise their movement during the launch and recovery, prepare the trailers for the recovery of the boats and to help clean, re-fuel and prepare the boats again after recovery. Both boats must always be left ready to go to sea at a moment's notice!