THE NEWEST member of the Penarth RNLI team has shared his experiences as part our campaign.

The Penarth Times is supporting the appeal to raise £52,000 for a new boat.

The latest crew member to be featured is Andrew Berry.

Mr Berry, 48, joined in February this year making him the most recent to join the team.

He has a maritime background as his great grandfather was bowman at Angle lifeboat station, and his father was a chief petty officer in the Royal Navy

Mr Berry's day job is head of safety and staff wellbeing at Cardiff University.

He followed the station's Facebook page, and when the opportunity arose to join the team he leapt at it.

Mr Berry said: "I have always been keen on volunteering, and I really appreciate the work that the RNLI does in saving lives at sea.

"Although I am unable to be a sea-going crew member, I am happy to contribute my time to support the team and the service."

"The team are very friendly, and I have been really welcomed as a team member.

"I love the variety of the shouts.

"We never know, of course, when the pages will operate and the nature of the calls.

"There is a real feeling that we are contributing to the local community."

Mr Berry also said that he feels the role at Penarth RNLI helps him in his day job with the university.

He added: "I work in an environment which requires me to deal reactively to unforeseen situations

"My employer is supportive of my role and understands that on rare occasions I may juggle my work commitments to ensure an emergency is covered appropriately."

The appeal has raised more than £8,200 which is around 15 per cent of the target.

A recent call out saw an early start for the crew on Monday, August 22.

They were paged just after 7am to help with a search for a missing person.

Penarth RNLI's D-class lifeboat attended and conducted a search of part of the River Ely in Cardiff.

The crews were stood down at 9am, with nothing being sighted.

Please help us raise the money by getting involved.

No matter how big or small your fundraising event or idea, let us know and we will help publicise it.

We will also try to cover as many events as possible.

Anyone who helps raise money will get special recognition with a Penarth Times certificate and be mentioned in a roll call which will be published regularly.

Send any fundraising ideas to reporter Anthony Lewis at penarthtimes@penarthtimes.co.uk or contact the appeal team at penarth@rnli.org.uk.

To donate directly send a cheque made payable to Penarth Lifeboat Appeal to Penarth Lifeboat Station, The Esplanade, Penarth, CF64 3AU.

You can also donate online by visiting www.justgiving.com/fundraising/penarthlifeboatappeal1