Penarth RNLI lifeboat stalwart volunteer steps down

Mike was presented with a certificate commemorating his service by good friend of the RNLI, Mrs Janey Howell, High Sheriff of South Glamorgan. Phil Lay Penarth Lifeboat Operations Manager praised Mike’s contribution by saying:

'Mike has been a very valuable member of the lifeboat family and we will miss his experience. Like all the members of Penarth’s team, he has voluntarily given so much time and commitment to help the wider community,'

Mike joined Penarth RNLI in November 1980, as a volunteer crew member and quickly progressed to become lifeboat helm. Since his retirement from being a sea-going member of the team, Mike has spent the last 21 years as volunteer shore crew and one of Penarth’s launching authorities, overseeing lifeboat launches following HM Coastguard’s request for assistance by the charity's lifeboats.

In 2000, Mike was a member of a crew of just eight lifeboat volunteers from across the UK who flew out to aid the relief effort in flood-stricken Mozambique.

‘We had five small D class inflatable lifeboats and had to ferry doctors and medical supplies to areas that had been written off as impossible, as helicopters couldn’t land there and they were inaccessible by road’, said Mike.

As well as its domestic lifesaving, the RNLI works with global leaders, public health organisations and at-risk communities to help turn the tide. We want to make drowning prevention a priority worldwide and reduce this staggering loss of life.

Drowning is a silent epidemic that claims over 300,000 lives every year, many of them children. By raising awareness, conducting research and testing interventions the RNLI can make a difference.

Mike’s skills and experience were complemented by his long career in the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service. As Chair of the Fire and Rescue Service’s Water Rescue Group, he was integral to the founding of UK partnership between the RNLI and a national fire service, which led to both organisations combining their training and knowledge.

When Mike was asked what changes he had seen through his time with the RNLI he said:

‘I’m sure some of the people of Penarth will remember the handheld maroons that were fired off by a lifeboat crew member to call the rest of us to the station for a launch.’

Showing his age, he continued: ‘But even before that, I remember when the Pier Master would fire two maroons out of a small cannon. Technology has changed the RNLI but it’s still the same feeling and commitment when your pager or mobile alert goes, and you are called out of bed in the early hours of a freezing cold January morning’.

Media contacts

For more information please contact Penarth RNLI Lifeboat Press Officer, Nick White on [email protected] or 07818 680 667.

Alternatively you can contact Claire Fitzpatrick-Smith, Regional Communications Manager on [email protected] or 07977 728 315 or the RNLI press office on 01202 336789 / [email protected].