Charity Contributions Over the Years
Scotmid & The Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Sarah Barcley16 August, 2010Serving communities together
Charity of the year 2010/2011
Scotmid is delighted to announce that it has chosen to support the RNLI as its charity of the year for 2010/2011.
During the year it is hoped that Scotmid will raise £150,000.
Why support the RNLI?
Today the RNLI, the charity that saves lives at sea, needs support to train and equip volunteer lifeboat crews and lifeguards. The RNLI's lifeboat service is funded by voluntary donations not HM Government, so it needs continuous support to ensure its volunteers are ready to deal with emergencies at sea and increasingly during inland flooding situations. On average, lifeboat crews will rescue 22 people every day.
There are 66 lifeboat stations within Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England (to Sunderland). Today, volunteer lifeboat crews from these stations will be required to go to sea at a moment's notice to potentially save the life of a stranger. But you don't have to benear the sea to understand the benefits these volunteers can bring. The RNLI has Flood Rescue Teams manned by lifeboat crew volunteers who can answer the call for help many miles from the coast. In the recent floods in Cumbria, RNLI volunteers came to the aid of those in trouble.
What Scotmid are raising funds for?
£150,000 will be used to offset the costs of four particularly important projects:
- Supporting the annual cost of training of volunteer crew members
- Supporting the cost of essential maintenance for lifeboat crew members lifejackets
- Supporting the cost of helmet cameras used by lifeboat crew
- Supporting the cost of Water Rescue Crafts used by beach lifeguards
Lifeboat crews
Today, only 1 in 10 lifeboat crew members come from a professional maritime occupation, so training is vital to ensure each volunteer is fully prepared to save lives at sea. On average, crew will train every fortnight on their lifeboat or at their station. In addition,they attend mobile training units locally and residential courses at the Lifeboat College in Poole.
It costs on average £1,214 a year to train each lifeboat crew member. Without this training the volunteer's lives would be at risk
Scotmid will be helping to offset the cost of training lifeboat crew members at four stations in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England.
Lifejackets
A lifejacket is the most important piece of kit a lifeboat crew members needs. The RNLI lifejacket is the final defence for volunteersand can mean the difference between life and death.
Each lifejacket is precisely serviced every year, to ensure that when it is really needed, it will work. On average, it costs £1,250a year to service the lifejackets at each station. This is expensive, but the results are life saving.
Saving lives at sea can be a dangerous business; RNLI volunteers need to know their lifejackets will work.
Scotmid will be helping to offset the cost of maintaining lifeboat crew members. lifejackets at seven stations in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England.
Cameras
New additions to the lifeboat kit list, video cameras, are being fitted to the helmets that our crew wear. The bullet camera is one of the lightest on the market and the recorder gives good quality footage in a format suitable for television.
Having the facility to record everything from a first hand perspective provides an invaluable tool for use in a debrief following a rescueand in training exercises. It also provides footage which supporters and television and web news stations are eager to see, just a few hoursafter a rescue. This gives great exposure to the charity and helps us continue to raise money.
Scotmid will be helping to offset the cost of ten helmet cameras at stations in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England.
Rescue Water Craft (RWC)
RNLI Lifeguards dealt with 13,591 incidents, and assisted 15,957 people in 2009. Now they are patrolling beaches in the North of Englandfor the first time, and need help to raise money to buy two Rescue Water Craft (RWC) to go on service on beaches in Tyne & Wear.
With a top speed of 55mph, and incredible manoeuvrability, a lifeguard rescue water craft can negotiate almost any condition. It incorporates an attached rescue sled and can be operated by one lifeguard, allowing swimmers and surfers to be pulled out of the water veryquickly.
Two out of three people visit the seaside at least once a year. Having lifeguards on beaches saves lives - not only through rescues but also through educating beach users in the safest way to enjoy the beach. 95% of the work that RNLI lifeguards do is preventative andsupported by its national beach safety and schools education programme.
Scotmid will be helping to offset the cost of two rescue water craft in the north of England.
Case study - Lerwick rescue
Just two weeks into the New Year, Lerwick RNLI lifeboat crew were involved in a 20 hour rescue, heading in to gale force conditions andlarge sea swells after a fishing vessel with six crew onboard hit difficulties. The 24m, 270 tonne vessel had fouled its propeller 53miles north east of Lerwick in gale force eight conditions. Three hours after launching, the lifeboat arrived on scene and the lifeboatcrew expertly secured a tow. Due to the severe weather conditions - five to six metre swell (about the height of a double decker bus),and strong winds - the maximum speed the lifeboat could tow the fishing vessel was three knots. The lifeboat and the fishing vessel arrivedsafely back into harbour at 2.30am over 20 hours since they had launched.
Case study - volunteer Dan Holland
Dan Holland, a radio producer, is a volunteer RNLI lifeboat crew member in Kessock; although he is a keen sailor, diver and windsurfer, hisfirst memories of the RNLI are as a ten year old boy on holiday in Bridlington: He says. "At 27 years old I found the right time in life tofulfil one of my lifelong ambitions of volunteering to become an RNLI crew member. I had no idea just how fulfilling it would be, nor couldI have imagined five years ago the immense sense of pride that putting on my lifejacket for the first time and running for the lifeboat asthe tractor pushed it down the slipway would give me."
"When you volunteer for the RNLI you are embraced into a family of like minded people. You are given the best training in the world to setyou up for every eventuality when you head out to sea. One of my clearest memories was speaking over the VHF to a very seasick woman onboard a yacht in the middle of a gale. Her voice was weak and strained. I did everything I could to keep her talking and to encourage herthat she was going to be OK."
"In a single moment the whole situation changed. I asked if she could see the orange boat approaching her through the waves. She could seethe lifeboat approaching and immediately her voice was strong and the tears stopped as she realised that in only a matter of minutes shewould have somebody next to her to help."
"When I get to see firsthand the positive difference that the RNLI makes to people's lives I wish I hadn't waited so long to fulfil one of my childhood dreams of helping to save lives at sea with the RNLI."