Recruitment Drive a success.

'Stardrift' towed into the harbour

As recently reported the Hayling Island RNLI lifeboat station has been short of boat and shore crew so a recruitment campaign has been running and on Sunday 25 November 17 potential volunteers visited the station. They had a programme of chatting to crew, being shown the boats and personal safety equipment, experiencing the boats launching and then after refreshments a talk on the life of the station.

Sunday 2 December dawned with the 5th call-out that weekend  to rescue a fishing boat ‘Stardrift’ (pictured on tow) with a lobster pot line round its propeller, so that by the time the station was then welcoming new recruits, the Atlantic 85 lifeboat had already been out. Ten further potential recruits visited the station and followed a similar programme to the previous week.

Twelve volunteers have now returned to the station and signed up as crew members. They have started a training programme which will get them all to experience the shore crew role and then eight of the twelve will go onto become boat crew. Gil Carter, Training Manager said ‘They will all follow a rigorous RNLI training programme which meets national standards across all lifeboat stations and synchronises with the national search and rescue services.’

Lifeboat Operations Manager Jonathan Bradbury said ‘We are delighted with the number of volunteers we have recruited and are grateful to all who came to see us, as well as the businesses and local organisations that supported our recruitment campaign.’

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