Atlantic 75 - B758 'Sandwell Lifeline'

The lifeboat has launched 6 times in one week this week for a variety of calls as the august holidays are in full swing. These included a speedboat which sank with two persons on board who were found clinging to a seat which was all that remained of their boat; a kitesurfer who dropped his kite in the water near the bar, A fishing vessel with engine trouble, 4 swimmers clinging to a mooring buoy in the river, and a windsurfer on the bar.

A very successful week, despite some questionable weather! Many thanks to everyone who came along to support us. Over £2500 was raised.

Aberdovey Helmsman Meurig Lumley has been houred with an invitation to the Queen's Garden party at Buckingham Palace, in recognition of 30 years loyal service to Aberdovey lifeboat

Lifeboat Week 2010 will be as follows;

24th July - Flag Day, and Quiz night, 7pm

25th July - Abergynolwyn Silver Band - 3PM

26th July - Beach Games, 6.30PM

27th July - Annual Coffeee evening, 7 PM

28th July - Folk Evening, Dovey Yacht Club, 7PM, Tickets £5

29th July - BBQ from 6 PM, Raft Racing 7PM

30th July - Lifeboat Exercise 1230PM, followed by the Duck race. Ducks are available from the Lifeboat shop or the chemist

Aberdovey Lifeboat week will be held in the week beginning 24th July 2010

Aberdovey's annual lifeboat fundraising week with lots of fun events for the family and all ages. Please come along to help out or donate to this worthy cause in the village. finishing on the 31st with the Lifeboat demonstration exercise, followed by the infamous duck race! 1pm. Ducks can be bought from the station shop or from the chemist.

Saturday 25th - Flag day

Sunday 26th - Abergynolwyn Silver band 3pm, Beetle drive 7pm

Mon 27th - Beach games, 7pm

Tues 28th - Coffee evening 7pm

wed 29th - Howard's fun triathlon - 7pm

thurs 30th - quiz night 7pm

Fri 31st - Lifeboat demonstration followed by the duck race, 3pm

The crew were paged at 1235 to a windsurfer disappearing towards the bar. A quick launch was required as coditions were very poor, with force 6 winds, a strongly ebbing tide and 4 metre waves. The man was spotted near the south spit buoy, however the boat had to detour inshore slightly to reach him, to avoid the worst of the breaking waves. The man was recovered quickly, however it was considered too dangerous to recover his equipment.

the full press release can be seen by following the link below;

http://www.rnli.org.uk/who_we_are/press_centre/videos/video_detail?articleid=448508

The video footage can be seen by clicking on the image opposite. The complete rescue can be seen on the video page of the website.

Running the London Marathon in Aberdovey!

05/04/09

Aberdovey's own Howard Crompton is running the full 26.2 mile London Marathon distance outside the station over easter week to raise funds for the RNLI in Aberdovey.

He has already reached his £2100 target, and is looking to raise more! Just to make life that little bit harder, he will be running in full RNLI wet weather kit! Come along over easter week to support him.

Lifeboat week will be held from Saturday 25th- Friday 31st July

visit www.justgiving.com/howardrnli to donate

Some say I'm crazy, others say well done, some just laugh. But I'm inclined to say yeah I'll do it. I'm running the London Marathon in April 2009. I plan to raise £2100 for the RNLI. Ive been a RNLI Lifeboat crew member for 3 years. In that time I have rescued numerous casualties from kite surfers, wind surfers, broken down boats and some we unfortunately haven't been able to rescue. I'm on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week and when my pager goes off I drop everthing to go and help that person at sea.

I wouldn't be able to rescue these people if it wasn't for the training I've had over the years. It's people like yourselves that donate money that keeps the RNLI going.

On race day I will be putting the names of everyone who has sponsored me onto my t-shirt. IF I get on TV I may well mention your name. Please help me raise this money every penny helps. A huge thankyou to everyone locals and tourists who have kindly donated £450 so far money keeps flowing into my donation bucket that is in the Lifeboat Station.

£2262 raised so far!!!!

2008 has been the busiest year in a long time with 32 shouts in total. See the launch page for more details.

Ian Jewell, an active crew member with the Aberdovey RNLI will be forsaking the trusty lifeboat and outboard engines for a kayak and a set of paddles on a fund-raising trip around the Cornish coast in a couple of weeks time.

28 year old Ian is an instructor at the Outward Bound centre in Aberdovey and has been kayaking most of his life. He decided to do this expedition as a tribute to his late Grandfather who passed away earlier this year and as a way of raising funds for the RNLI station at Aberdovey.

Ian expects to start his passage from Plymouth on the south coast around 8th August, stopping en-route in Penzance for a family remembrance service for his Grandfather and finishing in Bude on the north coast. Ian expects the trip to take between 2 and 2½ weeks.

“I’m really looking forward to the challenge”, said Ian. “People have been really great when they’ve heard what I’m doing – the Outward Bound have let me have the time off and they and Reed Chill Cheater have both provided me with some specialist clothing for the trip.”

Anyone interested in supporting Ian can contact him on 07876 566906 or make a donation at www.justgiving.com/ianjewell.

Our boat has returned from Cowes after its 3 yearly refit, in as-new condition ready to answer calls at sea. She is now fitted with the new 75 horespower yamaha engines, with a top speed of 34 knots.

The boat is requested to make an immediate launch to a mayday call by Milford Haven Coastguard, to assist local fishing boat 'Persevere' which is sinking with 5 persons on board. The boat has taken on water through a large hole which appeared in the hull, and she was being washed into building surf on the south bank. All 5 persons were rescued and returned to Aberdovey safe and well.

Attempts were made to recover the 9 tonnne vessel, however this was not possible due to grounding and the weight of the boat. The crew made every effort to recover any loose items including diesel fuel cans to prevent any environmental impact, then marked the boat with anchors and buoys to prevent it becoming a hazard to other vessels in the area.

The boat is called to assist the coastguard with a woman who has slipped on rocks at Tonfanau, with injuries that include a suspected broken wrist and knee.

To raise the stretcher up the loose cliffs between the beach and the road would have proved tricky, therefore the casualty was transfered to the lifeboat and brought back to a waiting ambulance in Aberdovey.

Three generations of the same family are active in Aberdyfi RNLI lifeboat station, Gwynedd, following the enrolment of 18-year-old Steve Bowen.
His father Dave and grandfather Alf are still involved at the station having served as a crew member and the deputy launching authority respectively. Steve is now a crew member and will serve beside his uncle Richard Garside on the station's Atlantic 75 lifeboat. He also appeared in an RNLI advertising campaign when he was a toddler. Another of Steve's uncles, Dave Davies volunteered with the RNLI for many years before hanging up his lifejacket to move to Shewsbury six years ago. The teenager's late uncle John Watt actively fundraised for the lifeboat station before he died in 1998. His grandfather is currently the deputy chairman of the station committee.

Steve, who has just completed his A levels, said he was swayed to join the RNLI crew because of the strong family connection. "In a small community like Aberydyfi, there is a good percentage of locals who are involved with at least one of the emergency services," he said. "I play a lot of sport, football for Aberystwyth Town and hockey for Dysynni team and regularly help out with hockey and football coaching sessions for local clubs, so I very much enjoy working with people and being part of a team. "That's what the RNLI is all about, but having so many friends and family involved at the station also swayed my decision to join."

His father, who now volunteers as the lifeboat station's press officer, explained that Steve had played a young child who had been rescued for the RNLI advert 16 years ago, and had been photographed on the jetty.

Robin Goodlad and Phil Bresnen have spent four days with the RNLI working in Tewkesbury and Gloucester. Working as part of the RNLI's international flood rescue team, they were involved in the rescue of 120 people, four dogs and one budgie, over four days, In the worst flooding the area has seen for over 200 years. The team used D-class and Arancia (beach rescue) boats to complete the tasks.

Over 120 flood victims plus various pets, from budgies to dogs, were rescued during the RNLI’s deployment; including more than 50 flood victims in Worcestershire – where people were rescued from the roofs of their caravans in Hardlow, elderly residents were evacuated from a nursing home and a casualty was rescued from the water in Pershore. The RRU also went to the aid of people stranded by the floods in Droitwich, Kidderminster, Wick and Hawford.Over fifty people were also rescued in Gloucester and Tewkesbury – including the evacuation of a woman and her seven-month-old baby, a group of elderly people from the Royal British Legion Club, six people trapped in a pub and the evacuation of residents from a housing estate.

The RRU were also tasked to provide safety assistance at Castlemead and Welham Sub Power Stations, which were at severe threat from flooding. At Welham Power Station the RNLI RRU were the only emergency responders providing safety cover and the only escape route for the many people who were working hard to save it.

The RNLI RRU team also participated in the delivery of water, medication and emergency service personnel including paramedics, fire brigade and a doctor. They also met an ambulance to transfer a seriously injured patient to another ambulance waiting on the opposite side of the flood waters. The provision of safety advice to hundreds of homeowners who were camping-out in their homes, to children playing in or near moving water and to members of the public attempting to transport themselves through the flood waters in hastily prepared speedboats and vehicles was also a key part of their work.

During their deployment the RNLI RRU worked in coordination with Hereford & Worcester and Gloucester Fire and Rescue, and were based at local fire stations during the rescue.

The boat was returning from the rescue of a kitesurfer when it was urgently retasked to deal with a collision between a speedboat and a jetski in the estuary. The man on the jetski was injured in the water, so crew member ed davies entered the water to assess the casualty and stabilise him. The casualty was carefully loaded onto the stretcher, and then transfered to the boat. Realising the seriousness of his injuries Helmsman Phil Bresnen had already requested that the coastguard request the air ambulance, which he knew would transfer him to hospital far more rapidly. The basket stretcher used on the boat was too long for the air ambulance and rather than risk transfering the casualty to a smaller spine board, a decision was made to use rescue 122, which caused quite a stir when it landed on the beach packed with holidaymakers!

The casualty has since made a full recovery

The full story can be read in the Spring 2008 issue of 'The Lifeboat'