Kinghorn Lifeboat Station 2017 Review

The volunteer crew is on call 24/7 365 days a year, and they continued to be ready to answer the pager throughout the festive period, with five callouts between 19^th December and Hogmanay.

All five callouts were due to reports of people potentially in the water. Fortunately, all incidents were resolved, and the people were all located safe and well away from the water.

Joanne Wibberley, Lifeboat Operations Manager, ‘All of the volunteer operational crew and our fundraising team have worked very hard again to fund and maintain our 24/7 service.

‘We have had an increase in callouts in 2017, with the biggest proportion of callouts to people in the water, missing, or stranded in our operational area.

‘Not all callouts have ended on a high with our volunteer crew dealing with a number of fatalities throughout the year.

‘On a positive note, our team has taken part in a lot of regular training sessions throughout the year and we have taken part in training with RNLI lifeguards, Anstruther lifeboat and our local Coastguard rescue teams.

‘This has improved our working knowledge of the local coastline and gets the teams use to working together and improving communication between each team.

‘In February and August seven of the crew updated and revalidated their casualty care qualification. This involved additional training and assessment over five evenings, but these skills have been put to good use several times since.

Personnel from the station have continued to promote the RNLI’s ‘Respect the Water’ campaign, which was launched in 2015 with the aim of reducing coastal drowning by half by 2024, the 200^th anniversary of the RNLI. The campaign has seen messages across the media highlighting the risks of water, and hopefully making people think twice when near the water. Research shows that many people who end up in the water had no intention of getting into, or on, the water, but were caught out by factors such as weather and wave conditions.

‘Looking to 2018, we would urge anyone who lives in Kinghorn, and is physically fit, to come along and find out more about volunteering with the RNLI. Volunteering with the RNLI is a hugely rewarding hobby. There are many roles within the Kinghorn team, and experience of these jobs is not necessary. First class training is provided, and the camaraderie is enriching. Please come along and see us at the lifeboat station on a Monday evening when the crew meets to train, or email us on [email protected] for more information.

‘2018 has had a great start with the Kinghorn Loony Dook on New Year’s Day. This event raised over £1,000 with over 100 people taking to the water.’

Fundraising continues to take place throughout the year, with the Coastal Challenge sponsored walk from North Queensferry to Kinghorn being very successfully run for a second time in May, and the Kinghorn Santa run in November. The famous Spooky Walk also returned in 2017.

Sheona Smith, fundraising chairperson, said, ‘Once again, our events this year have been extremely well supported and we are grateful to the local community for their continued support.

‘We were delighted with the number of people who came along to our second Mayday Coastal Challenge. Mayday is the RNLI’s welly-themed flagship annual community fundraising campaign and we are looking forward to the 2018 walk to be held on Saturday 12^th May.

‘Our ever-popular Open Day will be held earlier this year, on Saturday 30^th June and we look forward to welcoming our supporters along to Kinghorn to see the station and meet the volunteers before the school holidays begin.

‘Our crewmembers organised the Santa Run in November, and it was great to see so many families coming along to take part. This followed on from the success of our sell-out Fish Supper event!

 

Notes to editors

• Kinghorn lifeboat station has been operating since 1965. To learn more about the lifeboat station go to www.rnli.org.uk/kinghorn
• A video of an Atlantic 85 lifeboat can be viewed at http://www.rnli.org.uk/who_we_are/press_centre/videos/video_detail?articleid=321844&category=&region=&listing
• Further information including facts and figures from Kinghorn is attached.
• Photos from a year in the life of Kinghorn station are available at Dropbox link. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gt3qcpz5j85hvmu/AACdGPPV45uYOCVnXnRPyTKia?dl=0

RNLI media contacts

For more information please telephone Neil Chalmers, RNLI Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer on 07767 380274 or [email protected] or Henry Weaver [email protected] or Gemma McDonald on 01738 642956 [email protected] or contact RNLI Public Relations on 01202 336789

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 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. 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 142,700 lives.

Learn more about the RNLI

For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. News releases, videos and photos are available on the News Centre.

Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries

Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 (UK) or 1800 991802 (Ireland) or by email.