Lifesavers celebrate (From Penarth Times)

Lifesavers celebrate

PENARTH Lifeboat Station, which has saved 165 lives and rescued 1,235 people since opening in 1980, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

The station re-opened on June 17, 1980, almost 75 years after the original station closed in 1905.

In 1980 the new station housed a D-class lifeboat which provided only limited daytime cover from May to October.

The station now operates two boats - an Atlantic 75 and a D-class - and the volunteer crews provide 24-hour cover all year round.

Over the 25 years, the station has recorded 975 launches that have resulted in 165 lives saved and 1,235 people rescued.

The station receives one call a week on average and the average launch time is about eight minutes.

Most of the crew can get to the station in about four or five minutes.

The crew members are drawn from a wide range of professions - manager of the students' union bar at Cardiff university, an IT specialist, a fireman, a police officer who works as a spotter on the force's helicopter, the owner of an Arctic exploration business, and employees from the Vale of Glamorgan and Cardiff County councils.

The current lifeboat station was constructed in 1995 and was officially opened on June 13 1996 by HRH Princess Alexandra.

Until 1995 the station accommodation was underneath the shelter in the Italian Gardens on the Esplanade.

The new building provides housing for both lifeboats and launching equipment, as well as crew changing facilities, stores, a workshop and a souvenir shop.

Phil Lay, a deputy licensing authority at the Penarth station, said: "Sometimes people run into trouble at sea for the simplest of reasons.

"Pleasure boats departing from Cardiff Bay have needed us on many occasions. Every year we rescue people stranded on Sully Island. The tide in the causeway there is vicious.

"We receive a number of hoax calls every year which is extremely frustrating. That anyone would maliciously call our volunteers out in rough weather is beyond belief, but they do.

"They know exactly what they are doing - one caller even knows all the correct terminology. The police are able to use sophisticated technology to trace these calls now and they do prosecute."

Mike Kingston, who is an original crew member from 1980, said: "It is a very serious business but we do have some fun too.

"One time we were called out by the coastguard in November after someone was spotted in the Bristol Channel.

"It turned out that a stowaway from Africa had jumped ship on the way to Newport Docks. We found him running around naked on Flatholm."

It costs the RNLI 5,000 every time the Atlantic 75 boat is launched.

Ten crew members are required to launch the boat.

To launch the D-class, which is used for around 70 percent of rescues at Penarth, costs 1,500.

New recruits receive in-house RNLI training at Poole in Dorset in a range of key areas including navigation and first aid.

There are now two women on the crew - one has just been promoted to the helm, the first ever in Penarth. There is also a husband and wife team, Jim and Sarah Mayer.