Rotary Meeting, The Old Manor Hotel, 13th September 2016
Those attending the above meeting were given a most interesting and informed talk by Paul Wibberley of RNLI Kinghorn.
As an introduction, Paul outlined a bit about his background, and that as he is now in his 50’s he is one of the older members of the crew. With his considerable experience, he has participated as a crew member of the launch, as well as operating the helm, which he was also Operations Manager of Kinghorn for 5 years.
The lifeboat launches around 50-60 times per annum, and has gone out 35 times already this year. It takes 7 minutes to launch from notification in daytime, and 11 minutes at night. The work can be very dangerous, as often the seas are extremely rough, and the water temperatures only being 12 degrees currently and 4 in winter. As such, any prolonged time spent in the water can very often be fatal – there are over 200 deaths from this in the UK, the majority in Scotland due to having many waterways and lochs, etc. For good reason the lifeboat personnel spend a lot of time educating school children of the hazards of the water.
A demonstration was then given of the clothing worn during any launch, including a very thick insulating suit (a “bear”), waterproof jacket, life jacket, and helmet. The best of equipment is provided, for good reason, so as to ensure that the crew are able to carry out the job properly.
There are 236 stations around the UK, using a variety of sized boats, the busiest being Tower in London, on the Thames.
Not surprisingly, training is regular and intense, thus preparing the crew for any eventualities, with the boat going out on training missions at least twice a week.
Finally, Paul indicated that as a charity RNLI is wholly dependent on donations and various fundraising activities. Following this excellent talk there was a lengthy question and answer session followed by a formal vote of thanks by Rotarian Colleen Goodsir.