Busy Morning at Whitstable RNLI

The monies were presented to the station following the cessation of activities at the Seaview Boat Club that was based at the Seaview Caravan Park in Swalecliffe between Whitstable and Herne Bay.

Paul Dayman the former club chairman said “Our club was in operation for 15-20 years at the park but folded two years ago and as a result we decided that as we had been a boating club and on one or two occasions needed the services of the RNLI it would be appropriate for half our remaining funds to go to the lifeboat, so we are very pleased to be able to present Whitstable RNLI with a cheque for £4115. The remaining funds will go to the Demelza House Children’s Hospice”.

Pete Fenton, Chair of Fundraising at Whitstable RNLI said “We thank the club and its former members for the donation which will be a very valuable contribution to the costs of running the station and our work of Saving Lives at Sea”.

The presentation followed a morning during which crewmembers both seagoing and shore took part in a net recovery exercise.

A net recovery takes place when sea and weather conditions make a conventional stern first entry into the launching and recovery carriage difficult.

A large net is rigged on the launching carriage and the lifeboat heads back into the recovery trailer bow first rather than turning to enter going astern.

Once back on shore the lifeboat is ‘jacked up on a turntable device, the launching trailer withdrawn and the boat turned around before being replaced in the launching carriage.

Sunday’s exercise was watched by a number of passer’s by and took place in calm but chilly weather conditions. In reality an actual net recovery may take place in very different circumstances.

Notes to editors

Whitstable RNLI Lifeboat Station was established in 1963 by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and is one of 237 lifeboat stations around the shores of the UK and Ireland. The volunteer crews provide a maritime search and rescue service for the Kent coast. They cover the area between the Kingsferry Bridge on the Swale, in the west, around the south-eastern side of Sheppey and along the coast through Whitstable and Herne Bay to Reculver in the east and outwards into the Thames Estuary.

The station is equipped with an Atlantic 85 lifeboat named Lewisco, purchased through a bequest of a Miss Lewis of London who passed away in 2006.

She is what is known as a rigid inflatable inshore lifeboat, the boat’s rigid hull being topped by an inflatable sponson. She carries a crew of four people.

RNLI media contacts

• Chris Davey, Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer, Whitstable Lifeboat Station.
  07741 012004/ [email protected]

• Hatti Mellor, Regional Communications Manager.M:07724801305. [email protected]
  

• For enquiries outside normal business hours, contact the RNLI duty press officer 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.

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